Butterfly and Kyuubi
by Irritus185
Summary: A butterfly flaps its wings and creates a hurricane on the other side of the world. The littlest changes create the biggest differences. The seal of Kyuubi no Kitsune, altered to fit his needs, and Naruto's path takes a grand deviation. Where will it lead
1. Flapping Wings

A/N: Well, here I am again. Surprise, I'm creating a new fanfic. This time it's in the Naruto fandom. Been reading a bunch and wanted to try my hand at it. I realize it's much bigger (_MUCH BIGGER_) than any else I've participated in, but I still wanted to try. Well, the basic premise of this story is "change" and how the smallest bit of it can have the largest deviations. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I, in no way, own, created, or have in my possession the franchise of Naruto. I don't want legions of Naruo/Sasuke fangirls after my hide, after all.

**Butterfly and Kyuubi  
Chapter 1: Flapping Wings  
By Irritus185**

One day, there was a caterpillar.

He lived in a forest of beautiful flowers, lush ferns, and tall trees.

It was all he ever knew, and he was content with his existence. He had all the leaves he could eat, a soft place to sleep within the dirt, and bright sunlight to warm him through and through.

However, the other creatures of the forest mocked him. The birds teased him that he had no wings to fly across the sky, instead having to settle for crawling across the ground. The beasts laughed that he had no fur to protect him from the cold chills of the winter wind, and that many of his kind perished during the unforgiving season. Even members of his own race, the lowly insects, spat that he was the ugliest of them all, colored a dirty brown and green that melted in with the dirt and discarded vegetation.

And for a while, the caterpillar believed them. He was not special; he was nothing compared to the majestic nature of the world's other creatures.

But one day, the caterpillar felt an urge inside of him. It was a feeling that had never passed through him before, a drive that surpassed the melancholy formed from the other animals' harsh words. He decided to follow that feeling.

Immediately he fell onto the leaves, devouring as much as he could possibly contain within his miniature body. With each bite, he felt stronger and stronger, as something new and amazing built up inside of him. When he couldn't eat anymore, something deep inside spoke to him.

The caterpillar hung himself from a branch, and began to coat himself in a thick blanket of silk. When he was done, his body relaxed, tired from the large amount of work. His eyes lidded, his mind laden with sleep, the caterpillar drifted off to the land of Nod.

While the caterpillar slept, his body went under a miraculous amount of changes. His plump body became slender. His stubby and wiggling legs became longer and more graceful. And then something hatched from his back, curled up in the cramp space that was his small abode.

Slowly, quietly, the caterpillar woke up from his prolonged slumber. He cracked the cocoon that he had built around himself, emerging from it like he had been reborn. Each leg pulled him out, further and further, until he was perched on the belly of his empty shell.

He tried to stretch, and instead felt two odd things unfurl from his back. He looked over his shoulder, and his many bejeweled eyes widened in surprise.

Two pale, gossamer thin wings drooped from his back. They reached out, each twice as large as his own body, encompassing the air and commanding the wind that brushed against them. They were a spectrum of colors, ranging from light, burning red to dark, night-like indigo. They shimmered in the morning sun, reflecting the drops of moisture that were drying up under the light's warm gaze.

He was now a butterfly.

He implored his wings to move and, with a small flap that could scarcely be heard, they moved in a beautiful arc.

The butterfly lifted himself into the air, seeing the ground become smaller and smaller as he rose higher and higher. The sun-lit sky smiled down on him as he flew above the treetops and into its glorious face.

He had risen above all others.

That first flap he had given, that infinitesimal movement of limbs, created a sliver of moving air. It traveled through the forest, gaining speed and size the farther it traveled. It kept moving, not stopping for anything or anyone.

In time, it reached the other side of the world. By this point it had grown into a loud and roaring gale, able to bow trees over and force all beings into their homes for shelter. In its travels, it had seen many sights, heard many sounds, and carried many smells. It held each of these objects within itself, a reminder of what it was and where it had come from.

The gale passed over a clearing, one where a being lay, caught in slumber.

Its nose twitched as the gale passed over and around it, alerting it to the smell of delectable foods. Its ears twitched as the sound of chattering and laughs filtered through its mind. Its skin tingled as warmth wrapped itself around it.

It knew what this meant. It knew what was going to come next.

There once was a nine-tailed fox. Its size dwarfed even the mightiest of the world's creatures. Its powerful tails could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis with just the smallest wave. Its power was unmatched by all else, and no one could stop its reign of terror and destruction. It lived for nothing other than the death of all and the annihilation of everything.

This is the story of Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Feared One, and how it nearly obliterated an entire village filled with brave shinobi.

This is the story of a selfless warrior, who sacrificed himself for the prolonged lives of his people and their well-being.

This is the story of a boy who, though he was mistreated by the very people he helped save, came to be known as a legend.

And all because of the flapping of a butterfly's wings.

BKBKBKBKBK

The boughs of the trees moved with the wind, the canopy acting like waves in the sea. They moved as one, swaying to and fro, like they were a complete being, waiting for the next breeze to wash over them. It was beautiful sight, a dance that awaited the accompaniment of music and an audience.

The acidic smell of smoke, metal, and blood lingered in the air.

Death hung with it, the pregnant feeling of imminent doom filling up all possible space. The fear was there, palatable and obvious. What else could exist? Nothing except for screams and roars and cries of help and pain.

The beast towered far above, twitching its immense tails as though it were simply fooling around. With each movement, another swath of earth was thrown up in the air, rocks ranging from simple pebbles to enormous boulders raining down from the sky, blocking the moon from view as they reached the ground at incredible speeds.

Brave men and woman stood underneath the onslaught, scattering when the larger examples crashed into the ground, creating small craters and showering clumps of dirt everywhere. Already their forces had been greatly diminished. Already so many of their comrades and family members and lovers had fallen victim to the monstrosity that threatened their very existence. Blood flowed from its gaping maw, the result of the poor souls that had become its invariable meal. It flowed down and splat upon the ground in wet, squelchy torrents, like some sick parody of rain.

Kyuubi, the great nine-tailed demon of a fox, glared at the insects before him, his lips curled back, flashing sharpened canines in a mock grin. The little mortals had been trying their best to harm him, but his thick fur and skin had repelled even the sharpest of blades, and what attacks had gone through were quickly and rapidly cured via his regenerative abilities. They had no chance…

Only the sweet oblivion of death would release them from this living nightmare.

Kyuubi raised his head and opened his maw. Something rumbled, originating in his stomach, before climbing out, faster and faster, culminating in a terrific and terrifying howl that reverberated through the air, striking each of the shinobi right into the dark recesses of their soul.

The weaker ones succumbed completely, their mind shattering from the fear that engulfed them entirely – body, mind, and spirit. Those that were a bit stronger but still didn't have the strength to face death dropped their weapons and fled, heading back to the haven of their city. However, it wouldn't matter; the sanctity of the village would soon be raped and discarded, and all that would be left of it would be smoldering and cracked ruins.

Kyuubi's lips trembled, his voice calling out to the shinobi in a condescending manner. _**WRETCHED LITTLE HUMANS, YOUR RESISTANCE IS NOTHING! I WILL DESTROY EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!**_

He was bred for destruction, he lived for destruction, and when his time came, though he doubted that was for a long time to come, his end would be even grander than any other sin he had ever committed. He was not a spirit that had been corrupted by the forces of darkness; not a creature that had fallen and had not been saved. He was not something that _could_ be saved, and neither did he care for a savior as well.

Suffering was his companion, and torment was his lover. They had always been with him, and would continue to run by his side as his form slid through the night.

Since the moment of his birth, no, since even before that, he was fated to kill every last living thing on this world. From creation to death, he was already steeped in all the sins and crimes and evils of existence, soaked so entirely through that nothing would ever cleanse his ultimate darkness. Life was simply a game to him, and eternity did not matter. Whether a decade went by or a millennium, he would still be there – watching, waiting, and then tearing through the void without even the slightest provocation.

It was who he was.

It was who he'd always be.

A natural disaster in a tangible form.

Death that could be seen with a grand smile.

A beast in the form of a monster.

He was Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox.

And Konoha was in his sights.

BKBKBKBKBK

The room was silent. Though three bodies resided in it, not one of them said a word, instead thinking about what was to come next, and what was to come about because of it. The walls were littered with scrolls, and the floor seemed to overflow with them as well. There was no rhyme or reason to the mess, except for perhaps the person who had absently and haphazardly tossed them about the years he had spent working in it.

The distant, almost imperceptive, sound of fighting could be vaguely heard through the thick pain of glass that bordered one of the walls. Bright flashes of light, and swirling vortexes of flames and wind went hand in hand with each other from the same source. Battle was being fought there, a battle from which so many would not return. It was gruesome, and too many hard choices had to be made to grasp the overall survival of the hidden village.

Like the one being made right now.

"You sure you wanna do this, gaki? It's not something you can return from once you do."

The man at the desk looked up from his folded hands. His bright, blonde hair was sagging down, none of its original vitality remaining. His brilliant, sky-blue eyes reflected the sentiment, dulled and listless. However, there was still a glint that lived in them, refusing to be blown out or extinguished. His mouth set into a firm, hard line.

"It is the only choice we have left. Nothing else is working. You should know that for a fact, sensei." He then gave a brief smile. "Or do you have a better idea? Honestly, I'm wide open for any other suggestions."

The white-haired man scowled for his answer. He shifted slightly, his long, red coat brushing on the floor. Directing his attention to the last member in the room, he shouted, "Oi, Sarutobi, knock some sense into him. You were the one that gave him the title of Hokage, after all."

The wizened old man frowned, his wrinkles moving with the motion. It was obvious by the look in his that his age was finally catching up to him thanks to the large amount of mental stress brought on by the situation. "Jiraiya's right, Minato. Sacrificing yourself may work for a temporary solution, but what about in the long-run? It will take a long time to fix the damage brought on by Kyuubi's attacks, in both the physical and emotional sense. What will the villagers do if their beloved leader is no longer around to aid and help them find the way? You must take into consideration the consequences."

Internally, he himself agreed with the young man's course of action. If there was a way to stop Kyuubi now with less sacrifices then all the better. But he was thinking with his emotions and not his brain. He had to take the thoughts of all the villagers and their emotional state of the matters into account too.

The Yondaime Hokage grinned capriciously. "That's what I have you for, jii-san. What better person to take over after me then the one that came before me?"

"Damn it, Minato! This is no joking matter!" Jiraiya shouted angrily, smashing a fist on the table. Though the toad-sennin was usually the first person to make light of the situation at hand, he just couldn't continue to do so now. This was his student's life at stake, one whom Jiraiya had become like a father to. He couldn't just throw away such tightly-knit bonds so easily. "What about your wife?! And your son?! Did you think what would happen to them after you were gone? And besides, performing such a jutsu on your own son…what were you thinking?!"

"I agree with Jiraiya. Performing such a dangerous, not to mention forbidden, technique on your own flesh and blood is just insane. Besides, how do you even know if it will work? If even the simplest thing goes wrong, we would be caught in the same situation as before, but without you there to help."

"I do not take this decision lightly, jii-san." Minato's face had sunk back into a stone of stoicism. His brows furrowed, and his voice lowered and deepened as his words became serious. "There is the chance of failure, but it is one that I am willing to take. And you say I am insane to perform it on my own son? Tell me then, who else could bear such a weight on their body and soul?" He stood up quickly, planting his palms firmly on the wood of the table. His eyes were fierce, completely different from before. They shined with a strength that easily matched and succeeded the two older men. "Only a child can hold Kyuubi's power. An adult's body would be ripped apart by its immense chakra. A child can grow with it, mold it so that it could adapt. A grown person is set in their ways and cannot bend. As for my child…

"Do you really think I could ask another to carry such a burden?! Damn it, I'm the Hokage of Konoha! What kind of leader could I be if I was willing to sacrifice one family's happiness instead of my own?! I would be unfit of my status and rank, and would deserve to be one those brought down by that horrible beast! So tell me, you two…" He ground his teeth and screwed his eyes shut. His words came out in a hissing whisper, barely there, and barely heard.

"What else could I possibly do?"

Sarutobi and Jiraiya remained silent. They knew better, but for one brief, shameful moment, they believed that Minato had not thought any of this through, that he was rushing ahead with no forethought that he was oftentimes prone to do. The man was wild card on the battlefront, a veritable whirlwind of steel and chakra, sparing no quarter to his enemies and leaving none alive when he was done. But in his role as the Yondaime Hokage, in his title as a leader of the shinobi of the leaf, he was a grand and careful leader. He did make mistakes, of course, as he was young. He hadn't even gone through a third of his life yet. Still, this boy before them, Minato Namikaze, had grown into a man, and his job and responsibilities as that man had been brought before him time and time again.

And somehow, he had successfully completed all of them, one by one.

Sarutobi was the first to respond, his voice catching in his mouth for a moment before he collected himself and continued. "I understand, Hokage-sama." Somehow, calling him by his first name just didn't sound appropriate at the moment.

Jiraiya snorted and tilted his head in stubborn resignation. "Yeah, yeah, gaki, you win the argument." It didn't matter what status in life that his previous pupil had held, he was always going to be the same snot-nosed brat that had been brought before his awesome self so many years before. Jiraiya wasn't about to let go of that privilege for anything. "So, what now? You expect Kyuubi to just let you suck out his soul and shove it into that piss-hair son of yours?"

Sarutobi frowned at his own pupil's tactless comment. Honestly, was the man _ever_ going to learn how to speak properly in others' company? Absently he conceded to himself that the answer to that question was invariably "no."

Minato grinned ferally. "Oi, don't mock my son like that. He looks just like I did when I was a kid."

"That's exactly why I said so, gaki."

The Sandaime Hokage sighed again as the former student and teacher fell into a mindless argument. How could they possibly resort to such behavior now, when they were in such a crisis? Those two would argue until the end of the world came about and then continue to do so after. He put his fingers to his forehead in an aggravated manner. "Honestly," he muttered to himself. "Those two are completely…"

"Incorrigible?"

Sarutobi turned around without surprise, finding another person had entered the room. "Ah, Kakashi, do you have a report for us?"

The copy-nin waved his hand in a sort-of bow. "Yes, sir." He chanced a glance at the other two, who by now had stopped arguing and were looking at them with great interest. "As of now, our troops have been obliterated to not even a quarter of their former strength." His one visible eye, unheeded by neither his silver hair, mask, nor hitai-ate, crinkled in rueful amusement. "I'm afraid that unless a miracle decides to show itself, we are royally screwed." He did not know why, but for some reason, the idea of their imminent destruction brought a giddy and shaky absurdity to his emotions. Perhaps the fear of it all was finally starting to reach him.

Minato said nothing for a moment before opening his mouth. "And my wife?"

"She's asleep at the moment, sensei. It appeared that the strain of the birth was a little too much for her. But don't worry, the doctors said that she was fine and is stabilized."

"I see…" The Hokage rubbed his chin, his looks pensive, before he chuckled. "Well, at least if this goes correctly, I won't have to worry about my wife beating me to death for doing something so stupid and risky." His morbid attempt at playing a joke went unappreciated, none of the others even able to crack a smile. He had the decency to feel embarrassed and coughed to clear the air. "Very well. Sensei, Sarutobi, Kakashi." Each of their eyes fell on him as he called their names. "I want all of you to come with me. I will need all the help I can get for the preparations."

He grabbed his jacked and flung it on, passing by the others with a grace that matched his form. He walked down the hall, the moonlight bathing his form in its spectral luminescence. This was the path that he had chosen, this was the road that his destiny waited for at the end. He made his decisions, and now he had to follow them to their fruitions.

There were regrets that he had. He had hoped to hold his new-born child in his arms, not worrying about anything else but the sad, helpless, and beautiful creature that he held in his embrace. He had wished that he could see that child grow, become someone in his own right and reach the potential that Minato knew deep inside existed. He prayed that he could lay by his wife one more time, feel her warmth, and see her smile, the joy that exuded from her and into him something so very precious indeed. He desired to be with his family until he died of old age, watching as he children's children and their children laughed and caroled and was happy the rest of their natural lives.

But he couldn't. Fate had deemed that it wasn't possible. So he did the only thing that he could do, the only thing someone in his position could possibly attempt. For him, it was inevitable.

The Yondaime Hokage walked down the hallway, the light to one side, and the shadows to the other. A small, quiet smile graced his face.

And he dreamed.

BKBKBKBKBK

Kyuubi's amber eyes surveyed the scene of carnage that was laid out before him. Feh, as he had thought, not a one of those pathetic weaklings had been able to stand before his might. He had razed through their bodies, shearing flesh from bone and crushing them into unidentifiable chunks of flesh and bile. There were none to oppose him, none to remain after. He would destroy the rest, and then move onto the village, ridding them of that scourge that was the human race before he moved onto the next collection of vermin and filth. His vulpine features darkened and sharpened in anticipation, foreseeing that blessed void that awaited him and his works.

His senses could feel the remaining ninja stop suddenly. The fear that permeated the area then drained away, only to be replaced by a relief and joy that he had never witnessed before. His ears picked up the cries of praise and thrill that erupted from the throats of the previously despairing men and women.

"The Yondaime Hokage is here! He is here to defeat the monster!"

Kyuubi's ears flattened on his skull, his lips curling up to reveal meters of razor-sharp canines. In the distance, he could see a large, still form, shrouded in shadows. But it was not the large form that caught his attention, no, it was a small being that rode on top of its head.

Kyuubi had lived for a long time. He had been around for millennia, and had seen and felt everything that was possible to partake in. He had also fought against those that had tried to rid his face from the world, whether it be for revenge, fame, or simply a challenge. So many had tried to stand in his way, so many had tried to stop him and defeat his ultimate goals. There had been strong one, and there had been weak ones. But none had managed to achieve their mission, and he had disposed of every single one of them, devouring them in the blink of an eye.

But this one was different. His power was above all the rest. Compared to Kyuubi, though, it was still a trifling amount. However, his strength wasn't what concerned the fox. There was a drive that existed in the being much like his own, if not stronger. It was on the knife's edge, bordering in the damned land of obsession. This man wanted to destroy Kyuubi. No, that was not right. What he wanted to do was so much more.

He wanted to bring the nine-tailed fox into his own personal hell, to shave off his essence one thin layer at a time, never quite finishing, never quite coming to an end. There was a bloodlust and killing intent that rivaled that of the other bijuu, and it was all directed solely upon him.

Kyuubi's fur, deep, dark red, as crimson as the blood that flowed from his mouth, shifted as his skin crawled and shivered. But it wasn't fear that made his skin feel as if it had a life of its own, as though his heart was about to explode and rip through his chest, as though his brain was being rained upon with lightning.

It was an anticipation even greater than ever before.

Kyuubi wanted to face this man. He could see the figure, small and fragile, like all humans were. But he wanted to face him, and he wanted to utterly destroy him.

For perhaps the first time in an endless amount of time, Kyuubi felt an exhilaration like no other. For the first time in a long, long while, he had found someone worthy of his full attention.

As if a signal to start, Kyuubi raised his head and let out a howl like before. And then, he launched himself through the sky.

Minato watched as the monster bore down on them. He smiled as he crossed his arms in front of him. "This is the last time I will ever call on you, Gamabunta."

The king of the toad summons grunted, dropping his hand that was carrying the long, thin pipe that he smoked with to his side. He fingered the large katana's hilt, waiting for the attack to come. "You never did have that cup of sake with me, did you, gaki? You always found an excuse not to."

"Hmm, I suppose I did," the man laughed softly.

"Pah, I'll forgive you just this once. But you better not break your promise ever again!" His only answer this time was a small vibration on his head, signaling that the man was shaking. Gamabunta knew it was silent laughter. He grinned in retaliation. "Very well then! Here we go! Gama Dosuzan! (Toad Sword Beheading)" He swung the katana from its scabbard in a quick and efficient slice, catching the nine-tailed fox right in the mouth as it made to bite down on them.

Kyuubi clamped down tightly, preventing the sword from going any further. His teeth and its blade ground against each other, but neither gave ground and neither showed any signs of cracking. To try and catch the summon off balance, he gave a sharp twist of his head. The katana lifted up, Gamabunta with it, and the two came crashing down onto the forest floor, splintering trees and mashing them under their immense weight.

Minato had taken the time during their inverted tug-of-war to launch a chakra-infused kunai. It embedded itself right in Kyuubi's skull, between his eyes. The fox's regenerative abilities had no effect, as Minato's own chakra kept his back. The Hokage made a few rapid hand seals before shouting, "Hiraishin no Jutsu! (Flying Thunder God Technique)" He instantly transported to where the kunai was buried, the seal upon it guiding his travels and anchoring him to the surface of Kyuubi's head.

It was fortunate that he had, because otherwise he would have been flung off when Kyuubi and Gamabunta had fallen into a heap and their subsequent scrabble to get back up without being harmed by the other. Minato was rocked back and forth, occasionally turning to the side and upside-down as Gamabunta distracted Kyuubi from what he was doing. It took a few minutes, but he finally managed to finalize the seals for one of the most forbidden of jutsu.

"Fuuin Jutsu: Shiki Fuujin! (Enchantment Spell: Dead Demon Imprisonment)"

Something both white and dark sprouted from the man's back. It was a being that knew not the fear of death, nor the joy of living. It was neither good nor bad nor righteous nor evil. It simply was. It existed since before time came into being, and it would continue its twisted "life" long after time had wound down.

A large figure floated in the darkness. Its faded hair and body seemed paradoxically visible from a distance. Its wild mane of white hair flew everywhere, and its white funeral clothing drooped off its translucent arms. Long, wicked claw curled off its fingertips, and its eyes seemed to go on for eternity, never breaking from its target, never granting even a hint of mercy. Horns twisted themselves from its forehead, black shards of ebony matching the teeth that grinned in mock rapture. A small knife hung from its mouth, simple and plain. But that one tiny weapon felt even more dangerous and terrifying than the rest of the being combined.

An effigy of a man, made entirely of blue chakra, hung in front of it, supported by tendrils of hair. He had no face nor any recognizable qualities. Like the figure, it just was.

Behold an existence of death even more frightening than Kyuubi. A true god of death, a true being of the void.

"Shinigami, I give myself to thee."

A mantra slipped from the being's lips, sentences unknown to the human tongue flowing from its mouth. The length of beads it held from one hand slowly wrapped itself around the shinigami's arms. Characters erupted from its skin, racing down the entire length, a pitch black that sucked in all light and made the rest of its body even brighter than before. The shinigami then raised its arm and plunged it into the figure it held.

Minato grunted in pain, the feeling and taste of blood spilling into his mouth. It slipped from his lips, dribbling down his chin and onto his clothes. He could feel something grasping its way through his body, through his soul. The pain was intolerable, and it took all that he could not to scream. But he held on. He still had something to do.

_Kyuubi. _

That was the only thought traveling through his mind.

_Kyuubi._

It heard and obeyed.

An arm exploded from his chest, carrying the same seals as the one belonging to the shinigami. It raced past him, burying itself into Kyuubi's skull and brain.

The feeling of dread quickly spreading through his mind, Kyuubi let out a great howl as he swiped Gamabunta to the side with a giant pawed laced with tree-sized claws. But it was too late.

Death was upon him.

BKBKBKBKBK

A babe lay alone in the middle of a circle of candles. A seal was located on his stomach, a swirling of lines and an outshoot of rays. He was crying incessantly, but the others in the room with him did not a thing to cease his woes. There was nothing they could do to stop it after all, nor did they want to.

The candles flicked, darkening in color from hot red to cold indigo. They then jumped, whirling away from the wick and flying into the air. Above the babe, nine undulating tails of fire caroused through the air, bending and twirling as though they were alive. They outlined the babe's form, his tan features, his shocking blonde hair, and his icy blue eyes.

With a roar out of nowhere, a visage of a monster's face twisted itself into existence. It was vulpine in nature, and it burned with the very fires of hell. It was stuck between the flaming tails and growled as it tried to force its way free.

The babe's cries grew louder as his stomach began to bubble like the surface of a hot spring. Little bulges moved across his stomach, coming and receding. Then his skin burst forth, nine spindly arms and hands shooting upward, one for each of the nine tails of fire. They grabbed them and proceeded to drag them downward as the tails resisted, their energetic movements diminishing with each passing moment.

And then, that same symbol-encrusted arm emerged from the center, rotating like a mad top and squeezing the horrible beast's visage between its fingers. With a scream that could raise demons from hell itself, the visage and its tails were pulled down into the babe's body, disappearing with a small and audible pop.

Three whisker-like lines appeared on each of the babe's cheeks, the seal on his stomach darkening, and his cries eventually subsided as he fell into a deep slumber.

Jiraiya stepped forward, picking the young child up and cradling it in his arms. This was the savior of their village, the prison for the hated Kyuubi no Kitsune, the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

A dreadful curse and an even worse fate.

He was…

BKBKBKBKBK

Minato was on his back, spent. He had already been thrown from Kyuubi's head in the fox's deathroes, unable to concentrate on the control needed to glue himself to any surface. Gamabunta had disappeared, unable to stay in this plane of existence any more due to the wounds received in his tussle with the fox.

He could hear the people of his village call out to him, crashing through the underbrush and foliage to try and find him. But it was too late. He had given his life to the shinigami, and that was not a pact he could break.

The moon shone upon him, lighting up his exhausted expression. It was late now and he was tired. All he wanted to do now was rest. Konoha was in good hands, and everyone left was now safe from harm. His eyes slowly begun to close.

He smiled as he thought of his child. His looks, the name of his beloved wife, and the mix of both their spirits. He was now the hero of the village. Minato hoped with all his might that his life would be a good one. The boy would go through troubles, he knew that, but hopefully the changes he had made would make all the difference. He knew that he was destined for great things.

He was his and Uzumaki Kushina's son.

He was Uzumaki Naruto.

BKBKBKBKBK

The leaves rustled in the light breeze, the branches swaying. A twitch of the ears, a flair of the nostrils, a widening of the eyes. He hopped from branch to branch, making his way back to the village. Random twigs and loose leaves smacked him lightly upon his face, but it didn't matter. Those silly, nearly insignificant slaps and whippets of pain meant nothing to him. It was a refreshing feeling to have, and he would gladly bear such a strange emotion. The forest was like a second home to him, and for good reason too.

Humans were all too ready to give in their animalistic side without warning. At least animals gave a bit more courtesy before sinking their teeth into your jugular.

The forest was a beautiful place. There were plenty of cushy boughs that one could sleep in, all different types of roots, berries, and even the occasional squirrel or rabbit to feast on, and best of all, no one tried to bother him while he was there. It was an amusing idea to roll around in his head during the more tepid parts of his day. For a place called "the village hidden in the leaves," very few of its citizens ever bothered to explore the wooded areas of it other than for training exercises or for a quick jaunt through the outer perimeters. Couldn't they see how amazing everything was, how interesting the natural essence of nature was?

He snorted back a quick laugh. When had he become so introspective? Perhaps the forest was having an adverse effect on him.

He grinned to himself and gave an extra burst of strength as he catapulted off a rather lengthy branch. Tumbling into the street, he almost bowled down a passing couple. They flinched instinctively, but with reflexes honed from constant years of running and moving in erratic ways, he dodged them at the last moment and fell to all fours. Standing up, he saw a flash of recognition cross their features followed by a slight flare of hatred in their body language. He swallowed the resentment and self-loathing that tried to burble its way up into his brain before flashing a smile with abnormally long canines. Combined with the dark whisker-like markings on his face, the effect was that of a vicious predator fooling around with its prey.

"Ya got something you wanna say?"

The couple paused for a moment. The man looked like he was about to pounce on the boy before the woman discreetly pulled on his shirt, deviating his attention. He looked at her, and with a nod they turned around, sparing a furtive look and muttering "demon" under their breath before walking away, leaving the boy to his own devices.

Naruto blinked slowly, his sapphire eyes flashing in the sunlight. He let out a small sigh of relief before turning the other way and made his own way down the street.

It looked like things had calmed down. He was glad he had spent the last few days hidden in the forest, away from all the people who wished him harm.

Naruto didn't understand. Why would so many people despise him? Why was it that wherever he went, people would shoot looks of hatred and loathing, and whisper under their breath as they passed by? The more overt ones even went so far as to publicly curse him out and throw objects at him. He had been at the receiving end of slurs not even the lowest street urchin would deserve and not a small amount of shuriken and kunai. He was lucky that the village's police force and members of ANBU that had been nearby had stopped such incidents before they escalated into full riots.

But verbal and physical abuse wasn't the least of his worries. No matter where he went, no matter what the item was, nearly every shop and restaurant treated him with the greatest amount of disrespect. Either they overcharged him by an absurd amount, completely refused to service him at all, or just plain chased him out with brooms, fists, and steel. Perhaps the only place he could remember off the top of his head that didn't treat him like the plague was Icharaku Ramen with its kind owner, Teuchi, and his lovely daughter, Ayame. They always welcomed him with a smile and had even gone so far as to give him discounts due to his frequent visits.

He grimaced as he looked at his clothing. He could still remember the ragged clothes that he always had to wear, full of holes and occasionally patched with rotted fabric. They were hand-me-downs of hand-me-downs and not fit to be used as rags for cleaning, let alone for actual clothing. Luckily he had managed to salvage his current outfit out of the orphanage's clothing bin before it was divided between the others. It didn't matter, he always received the bottom of the barrel when it came to them.

No matter what the situation, he continually got the short end of the stick.

A few days ago was when it was at its worst.

October tenth.

As Naruto guessed from his quick views of others', a person's birthday was supposed to be a happy occasion, a day that celebrated when one entered into the bright and beautiful world. But for him, it was the exact opposite. The hatred expressed by all the other villagers multiplied a hundredfold, and their outright abhorrence of him was blatantly shown.

He could still remember his second birthday, the farthest back he could recall. It was possibly the worst and scariest day of his young life.

The orphanage had literally been assaulted. People with torches and weapons had barged in, demanding that he be killed. The headmaster of the orphanage at that time had made no move to stop them, and had instead led them right to his room. He could still relive the fear that filled his entire body as he heard the footsteps come to his door, the smell of burning wood filling his nose. Calling him a demon, a monster, an abomination against the gods, they dragged him from his bed. He fought with tooth and nail, but he was merely a child and had no chance against their superior strength. The last thing he saw and felt was a large man's harsh slap across his face with a meaty slab of a hand. Then all had fallen into darkness.

Naruto shivered. He had been told that several ANBU members had crashed the attempted lynch-mob and broken it up, arresting everyone who was there including the previous headmaster. But still, he could remember the absolute terror that had frozen his body and numbed his senses. He never wanted to feel like that ever again.

So now, every time his birthday came around, he went to hide in the forest for a few days until the flames of anger subsided and people went back to hating him more passively. This was his sixth birthday, which meant that he only had…

A quick count on his fingers discouraged him from that train of thought even quicker. Shaking his head, he sped up his pace, blasting through the streets at a fast clip. After a short amount of time had passed he found himself at the entrance to the orphanage he had been living at for most of his life. He sniffed quietly, trying to detect if anyone was nearby. When he was certain that no one was in the vicinity, he opened the door and silently snuck in.

He was barely a few steps onto the grounds when he grabbed his head as something sharply rapped him. Tears threatening to escape, he looked up, finding his attacker was the current headmistress.

An old hag way past her prime and with almost none of her previous compassion, the headmistress did not take kindly to any of her wards. Naruto was a special case and deserved extra-harsh treatment. It didn't matter what the Sandaime Hokage said – those who were under her care were also under her terms and had to follow all of her rules. Those that didn't received an appropriate punishment.

Naruto scowled, his hands cradling his head. "Ah! What'd you do that for, ossan?!"

She snarled and smashed the broom down again. This time he was ready for it and rolled out of the way. He was on all fours, his back arched and his lips unfurled. His entire body shook faintly, a growl emanating from deep within his throat. The headmistress returned it with one of her own. "I'll do what I want, you little shit! Running off for days; I could have gotten in trouble with Hokage-sama and ANBU because of you! You'll be punished for your lack of respect towards me! Now, get inside, and be quick about it!"

"Yeah, yeah, ossan! I'll do just that!"

Naruto bound towards the door to the orphanage building, sweeping into it like the wind. He slipped through the hallway, avoiding any of the other rooms and dodging when he heard voices. He didn't want any of the other orphans to know he had returned, not yet. But with the fiasco that had happened outside he would have been more surprised if no one had heard it at all. Running up the stairs, he stopped at the third floor before rushing down the hall, slowing down at the last door on the left.

Reaching for the handle, he opened the door carefully. He didn't smell anyone else there, but he had thought the same when the headmistress had ambushed him. He had to pay closer attention and concentrate harder from now on. With the door all the way open, he was relieved to see that no one else was there. The state of his room, however, was a completely different story.

His bedding had been slashed, his drawers and chair had been thrown around, and his walls were covered in obscenities and slurs. It looked like a few of the more brazen villagers had tried to find him again, but when they didn't, settled for trashing his room instead.

Naruto sighed as he righted his chair. It was better than bearing bodily injuries, but this was too much. He knew that only he was the one expected to clean all of it. He had done the same thing for the last three years. It was simply a repetition of motions. That's all there was to it.

As he turned around to try and gather some cleaning supplies to fix the mess, he jumped when he saw the headmistress in the outline of his doorway. Damn it, how did the women keep doing that? He collected himself without pause, putting his arms over his head and scratching the back of his calf with his toes. "Yeah, what is it now?"

The old women leered before holding up a bucket of paint and brush. "As your punishment, I decided that you have to freshen up the paint on the orphanage's north wall. And you're not allowed to eat or come back inside until you finish."

His jaw dropped. "But that'll take forever! And what about my room?! I can't just leave it like this!"

"Then you better finish quickly, now shouldn't you?" She all but threw the objects at Naruto before walking off. "That'll teach you for disobeying me, you little shit."

Naruto grumbled darkly under his breath before heading out. It wasn't like he could disobey her any further. He was stuck there until he was either adopted or let go. And from the looks of things, neither of those options was going to come around any time soon.

As he settled down at the wall, he came to think about how he had gotten there. He was told when he was old enough to understand that his father had died before he was born and his mother perished during childbirth. Because they were people from outside the village he was just shunted to the orphanage. He was simply another bastard child, one who wasn't a part of their village and therefore was lower than scum. It was only because of the grateful respite given by the Sandaime Hokage that he was allowed to even stay in Konoha's boundaries.

He tilted his head, barely paying attention to the pain he was sloppily splattering on the wall. Sarutobi-jiisan was an odd man. He was the leader of the entire village, but he gave special attention to Naruto. Naruto already knew that the man was beloved by all the villagers since he treated them like family, but it was strange for a man as high-ranked as the Hokage to pay close attention to basically the pariah of the village.

Why was he so special?

What made Sarutobi look after him like he did?

What _was_ he?

As though drifting between the realms of reality and fantasy, an idea began to form. No, it wasn't an idea, more like an actual entity. He could feel it, scrabbling away at the corners of his mind. What was it? What was it trying to tell him? It was saying something…It was saying…

_**Hairless mon-**_

"Oi, retard! You having fun there?"

Twisting his head, Naruto saw a trio of young boys right near him. The thing that had been forming was completely blown from his mind as he focused all his attention on the group. He easily recognized them. They were a group of older orphans that often picked on him. Even though the orphans were the lowest in Konoha's society, they still needed someone to feel superior to. Naruto was the person who achieved that title.

The boy that everyone hated. No one would mind if they pushed him around a little, right? They didn't think so. In fact, maybe the villagers would treat them better if they acted just like them and mistreated the so-called "demon."

This twisted logic was unfortunately wasted on Naruto. He didn't know nor did he care how they wanted to improve their social standing. He just wanted them all to just leave him alone.

When the blonde boy didn't respond, the appointed leader grew angry. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Naruto continued to ignore him, putting as much of his attention as he could on painting the wall.

This the bully wouldn't allow this. "Don't you ignore me!" He grabbed Naruto by the scruff of his shirt and forced him to face him. Naruto glared at him at him, his blue eyes narrowed in defiance. "Heh, what you gonna do now, tough guy? You gonna hit me?"

"Leave me alone." Naruto muttered, his teeth tightly set together.

"Eh? What was that? I couldn't hear you." The boy raised a hand to his ear, his grin sadistic for one his age. His friends snickered, enjoying the way he was lording it over the smaller boy. There was nothing he could. He was completely at their mercy.

"I said, leave me alone."

The smirk grew wider. "And why should I? You're hated by everyone in Konoha. They're not going to care if we push you around a little. No one cares about the demon Naruto."

Naruto tried to stay calm. Anger led to retaliation, retaliation gave them a reason to fight. As quick as he was, he wouldn't be able to hold out against three much older, much stronger boys.

"You're not even a real villager. You're just a stinkin' outsider."

_Stay calm, stay calm._

"I bet no one would mind if we beat the crap out of you right now."

_Don't say a word, don't make a move, just stay-_

"I bet your own mother cursed you when you came out of her stinkin' pu-"

The brush came up, still laden with paint, and slapped itself right across his eyes. The bully squawked in pain and let go of Naruto, clutching at his face as the liquid burned its way through.

Naruto took the chance in the pause caused by their shock to grab the paint can and toss it and its remaining contents at the next closest boy. He went down as well, the metal smashing his nose in and covering his face with the paint. An audible and sickening crack signified that his nose may have been broken by the attack. The third boy recovered enough to try and attack Naruto, but he went under the wild swing and barreled his head right into the taller boy's stomach, bringing the two down in a heap.

Climbing onto the other boy's stomach, Naruto began to bash his tiny fists onto the unprotected face. His mouth was opened in a thick snarl, his eyes bright and fierce, his whiskers standing out. He said nothing as he pounded on the boy, just swung his fists and arms back and forth. The boy's face was becoming increasingly bloody as Naruto swung back for another punch.

He never got to. Something impacted with the back of his skull and he went down. They fell on top of his, like scavengers to the feast. They kicked him and punched him and beat him down, all the while shouting obscenities about him and his father and his mother and their parents. Naruto could feel the darkness settling on him, his body wracked with pain.

Why did they hate him so? Why?!

He slowly felt them stopping their assault, and fearfully uncurled from his protective position to see why. There he saw the headmistress standing before them. Her face was furious, demanding to know what had happened.

"He attacked us," the head bully cried. "We were just passing by when he went berserk and just went wildly at us! We didn't do anything wrong!"

The headmistress looked between them, switching from the paint-soaked boys with the broken nose and bleeding faces to Naruto, who was twitching sporadically, cuts and bruises covering his whole body and a trickle of blood falling from his mouth. She nodded upon reaching her decision. "All right then, I understand. Children," she said, nodding at the boys. "Go inside and get cleaned up. Lunch will be ready soon." The boys nodded in return, sparing a few leers and self-satisfied smirks at Naruto before running off.

The headmistress frowned deeply as she grabbed Naruto by the forearm and yanked him to his feet, dragging him to the building's entrance. "And as for you…"

They made their way, Naruto giving no resistance to her harsh and callous treatment. He was too tired to care. Reaching his room, she shoved him inside. "You will go without any meals today or tomorrow. In fact, you will not even be allowed to leave this room for the next two days! You really are nothing but a demon." She closed the door and the noticeable click of the lock sounded as she locked the door behind her.

Naruto stayed still for a moment. He climbed onto his bed, gathering his knees to his forehead.

He cried.

There was nothing else he could do. He was too tired to curse those that had wronged him, too apathetic to think about his situation. Only a deep and dark depression overwhelmed him, and he couldn't see or feel anything else.

Large teardrops forced their way past his eyelids, rolling down his cheeks and falling upon his bedspread. He shook like a leaf, his tiny body cold and paralyzed. He was alone. He would always be…

Alone.

Hours passed. The sun had already sunk a fair bit into the horizon when Naruto heard the click of the door's lock coming undone. He looked up, his eyes slightly red. He had stopped crying a while ago, but he didn't want it to be seen as a weakness. They preyed on weakness here, and it was all he could do but try and not show his.

The door swung open, and the headmistress popped her head in. She seemed strangely agitated as she looked the boy over. Good, he didn't look too bad for wear. His more serious wounds looked fine by now, so he was at least adequately presentable. She motioned for him to come, and he obeyed her without a word. Like before, he was just too tired to act out.

She led Naruto to the entrance, where a man flanked by two ANBU guards stood, their animal masks hiding their faces. The headpiece of the Hokage adorned his head, and wrinkled features helped to also attest to his identity.

The headmistress smiled sweetly and with a heavy dose of saccharine. She clasped her hands tightly together, her tone cajoling and making her look like a seedy merchant. "As you can see, Hokage-sama, I've brought the demo-I mean, the boy before you."

Sarutobi glanced at the boy's scruffy and pitiful state. He raised an eyebrow, removing the pipe from his lips. "What happened to him?'

The headmistress visibly flinched. She hadn't had the time to straighten the boy up, but she didn't think she'd need to. After all, why would the leader of the village worry so much about the welfare of the demon boy? "Ahh…you see, little Naruto had a bit of a scuffle with some of the other boys that live here. It was nothing really, you know how boys are at his age."

The Hokage's eyes widened a bit before narrowing again. "Of course." His tone was friendly but there was an underlying trace of venom in it. He was not fool and he had eyes to see the situation. But he ignored it for now. He could come back to this problem when he fixed the current one. "Now, if you could lead me to you office so we can sign the documents."

She gave a formal bow and hurried to her office, Sarutobi following. He smiled kindly at Naruto and extended a hand. "Shall we go, then?"

He hesitated but then shakily extended his hand, his much smaller hand easily slipping into the much older man's own.

What did Sarutobi-jiisan want with him?

BKBKBKBKBK

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked around the room. It was a simple apartment – one main room, a bathroom with toilet, a sink on the side for cooking and cleaning, and a large window that opened up to the east side. It wasn't special or luxurious or even that large. The building it was in was located in one of the more shady sections of Konoha, but not enough to cause too much alarm. All in all, it was a very simple apartment.

He looked around before swerving back to Sarutobi. "You mean…I'm, I'm going to live…_here?_"

The elder smiled lightly. "Yes, I've given permission to allow you to live on your own, concerning the treatment you've received at the orphanage."

Naruto winced as he heard the man's teeth grate on the word "treatment." He didn't want to say anything, but he knew that the headmistress was probably in a whole lot of trouble. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt happy at that piece of information. That old hag deserved what was coming to her. Another part of his brain tried to beat it down, but simply couldn't suppress it entirely. That didn't matter now, though, as the only thing he was thinking about was where he was right now.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously after a moment's thought. Something had been bothering him for a while now, and this room was the clincher. He was definitely happy about it, no questions asked, but it just didn't seem to fit in with the way the rest of his life had turned out. Only bad things were supposed to happen to him, not good ones. He realized that the idea was stupid, but it was a psychological temperament that had burned its way into his brain. He just couldn't get rid of the feeling that something didn't feel right.

"Why are you doing this, jiisan?" One of the ANBU members almost yelled at him for his disrespect, but a quick flash of the hand from Sarutobi prevented him from doing anything further. Naruto did not fail to notice this. That dreaded feeling increased even more. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Do I need a reason to be kind to another?"

Naruto was obviously thrown off by this question, his expression turning blank and his foot shifting back subtly. "N-no," he stuttered. "I…guess not." He paused for a moment, looking down at the floor. "But I'm not another person, I'm…me."

His indirect statement about his overall treatment by the villagers was not lost by Sarutobi. He grumbled darkly to himself, his expression never changing, making sure that he would research further into this horrid behavior regarding the young boy. Sarutobi regarded the boy's body language. It seemed meek now, nearly nonexistent, like he was a being that was on the line between this world and the next. The mental stress resulting from years of being treated as a monster had taken their toll on the child. But there was still a spark of life within the boy that refused to be blown out. Just like…

"Well, let's just say I knew your father, and I promised to look after you if you needed it."

All the other heads in the room shot up, amazed and shocked that he had revealed a thing so easily. Naruto quickly grasped at this knowledge. "You…you knew my father?"

"Yes, for a brief time."

Naruto's eyes shimmered as life began to pour back into them. "What was he like?!"

A smile played across the old man's lips. "A very kind and brave man." He made a motion as Naruto went to ask another question. "Let's leave it at that. We can always talk again, and I'm sure you should take the time now to settle into your new room."

Sarutobi then went on to explain how Naruto would receive an allowance every month to help support his new freedom. It wouldn't be much, but it would be enough to allow him to live somewhat comfortably. Naruto nodded ecstatically and proceeded to look around his new home as Sarutobi lead his guards out the building. The younger boy didn't even notice their disappearance.

He stepped outside, the sun almost blinding him. Sarutobi lowered his hand, blocking out the rays. He had been watching to see if there were any new changes in the boy's personality or behavior. He was a bit more animalistic, and from what he had seen of that "scuffle" from earlier, a good deal more feral in fighting. But it wasn't like he was falling into a demonic state. He took a gaze at the clouds, his mind falling back to former times. He could already hear Minato's last words on that fateful day ringing in his ears.

"_As you can see, I made a few changes to the seal. It's amazing that the smallest shift can make the biggest difference. Look, right here, instead of making the outward lines bend at a ninety degree angle to the right, they instead go to the left."_

"_And what is that supposed to achieve?"_

"_Well, for one thing, it will allow a bit of Kyuubi's chakra to spill out and mix with my son's. That way the Kyuubi can actually be of use and maybe atone for his crimes through Naruto. And the other change, well, that's to help Naruto…"_

"_And that is…?"_

"_Kyuubi's personality and Naruto's will mix."_

Those several moments of silence seemed to last forever. But it was Jiraiya that had broken it first that time.

"_Are you crazy?! You're going to mix an innocent child's and Kyuubi's personality together?! Do you _want_ to turn him into some savage monster?!"_

"_Do not worry. Naruto will still be the dominant personality. Kyuubi will, at the most, give him a few quirks and traits, but Naruto will not become the Kyuubi. On the same matter, perhaps Naruto's innocent nature will somehow change Kyuubi's for the better."_

"_Hokage-sama, I don't understand why you would…"_

Sarutobi waved at a passing elderly women that had bowed deeply at him. He could still distinctly remember the pained smile that had planted itself on Minato's face. It was like all the sadness of the world had found its way onto his shoulders, and he could not shift the burden to anyone else.

"_Naruto will need all the strength and tenacity he can get. People will be devastated when this whole ordeal is over. They will fall into depression when they realize their loved ones are never coming back. They will never rid themselves of the fear that Kyuubi planted inside of them all. They will be full of rage and loathing and hatred at the being that caused so much destruction and death. They will feel guilt that I sacrificed myself for them, no matter how much they realize that there was no other choice. And all of this rage, this sadness, this fear will not find an outlet, because Kyuubi is no longer there for them to direct it at. So what will they do, when there's no one else to blame?"_

A small pain shot through Sarutobi's heart as he remembered the revelation that passed through all of them.

"_They will blame my son. Naruto is innocent but his prisoner is not. But to those blinded by grief, it will not make a difference. I want my son to be seen as a hero, but I am afraid that human nature will not allow him to be. They will see him as the demon, the monster that threatened them. They will hate him and curse him, and there is nothing any of you can do to stop it. Because, after all, throughout every civilization that ever came to be on this world, whenever some disaster befell them…"_

And then his face became so sad, so ironically amused.

"_They always needed a scapegoat."_

Sarutobi sighed. What Minato had said was right. That was all there was to it. But at least he could try to make his son's existence at least a little easier. The Yondaime Hokage would forgive him for that at least…

…right?

BKBKBKBKBK

Naruto plopped down on the floor. He was really happy right now. The elderly coupled that owned the apartment building had just visited him, and while they viewed him with a wariness he was all too common with, they did not seem to despise him as much as most of the other villagers did. The wife had even ventured a careful smile before leaving.

He fell onto his back, staring at the ceiling. A lot had happened today, but he was pleased to know that at least everything had ended well. He rolled up on his side and curled into a ball, thinking about what to do. He had a futon, donated by the owners, but other than that his room was rather sparse. He'd have to go do some shopping with the money Sarutobi-jiisan had given him and get some more stuff to fill it up.

Something tickled the back of his mind.

A table would be good. Oh, and maybe some scrolls to put on the walls. Some backup instant ramen wouldn't be bad either, so maybe some pots or something.

The tickle grew to a consistent scratching.

Naruto frowned. Something was forming inside his head, but he didn't know what. It was not completely there, like he was looking at it through a very thick curtain.

The scratching became crystal clear footsteps. Blood began to pound in Naruto's head, and he grabbed one of his temples.

What _was_ it?

_**Ho? So the hairless monkey can finally hear me?**_

Naruto jumped as the voice went across his psyche.

"Who…who's there?!" he shouted, jumping up and swiveling his head around. "Show yourself!"

_**Right here, you wretched worm.**_

Naruto looked again. He couldn't see anyone else at all, and he couldn't smell or hear any other beings other than himself. So where… "Who…are you?"

A bark of laughter. A small blast of killing intent washed its way through him. Naruto shivered at the unfamiliar yet nostalgic feeling.

_**I am that which is called demon and monster. I am the reason you are the way you are today. I was reborn the same day as you were brought into this world, and I will be the reason you are erased from it. Now then, tell me, gaki…**_

_**Do you know who am I?**_

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. Turned out a few more pages than I thought it would. Anyway, I hope I got down the various personalities okay, as it's been a while since I read through the entirety of the Naruto manga. I'll look through it soon so I can do better at the characterization. As a bit of warning, expect Naruto to have a different personality. That was expected, anticipated, and even planned for in the first place. So yay. It shouldn't be by too much, he just acts a lot more feral (like an animal) then before. Oh, but expect a lot more "new" techniques for both obvious and…various…reasons. Hope you people continue to read if I manage to get another chapter out. In any case, please review and remember, no flames!

_Next Chapter – Planting the Seeds_


	2. Planting the Seeds

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. Rather quick for successive chapters if I do say. Nothing much else to say for this author notes. Hope you like the chapter. Other than that, see you at the end. Oh, but first answers/comments for my reviewers.

**QaUsI:** Sorry about the suffix. I thought I was doing something wrong but didn't check. Guess that showed me, huh? I'll do better next time, promise. As for the title, I like it the way it is. It describes the plot perfectly as well as certain characters that are in it.

**Anonymous:** Don't worry, there will be no romance. Thanks to the way Kyuubi is Naruto has no "romantic" feelings. Everything is objective to him. Crushes, like or likelike, this means nothing. Because of this though, he does get closer to the girls, but only because he doesn't get embarrassed by anything. Shameless does not even _begin_ to describe Naruto. I might add romance later, but probably not till after the timeskip, if at all. As for young Naruto? There are at least five more chapter till he even enters his third year of the academy. Expect Lee, Neji, and Tenten goodness! They exist _before_ the Chunin exams! Yay!

Thank you to the rest of my reviewers!

Disclaimer: I, in no way, own, created, or have in my possession the franchise of Naruto. I don't want legions of Naruo/Sasuke fangirls after my hide, after all.

**Butterfly and Kyuubi  
Chapter 2: Planting the Seeds  
By Irritus185**

The air was clear and the breeze was light. The sun shone down through the thin layer of whispy clouds, covering all living things that were within its grasp.

Sounds of grunts and impact echoed through the air. Two young children were fighting one another. However, this was not the brutal and baseless brawling of a schoolyard fight. These children were calculating, meticulous, judging every movement that was made and accounting for them with another one and then another hidden under that. Their moves were awkward and unpolished, but it would soon come to a point where everything about them would become flawless.

They would have to. A failed action or slow thought would result in nothing but death on the battlefield.

They were genin, fresh from the academy. Gone was the safe haven of their homes and education. They were in a new realm now, one that was much less forgiving and soft than anything they had ever witnessed before.

Their minds would become like steel traps, their body like lethal weapons, their spirits like unblemished crystals.

They were shinobi, and they were posed to risk their lives for those that they served.

One of them launched himself at the other, his fists a whirlwind of jabs and swings. The other dodged as best he could but his poor defenses were quickly eroded through, and he took a strike to the temple. Emboldened by his strike connecting, the first boy pivoted on his front foot, swinging the back in a crescent kick aimed for the skull. He felt it connect again, but a dread feeling filled his stomach.

The other boy's bright blue eyes twinkled briefly before his entire body poofed from existence being replaced by a log that was approximately the size of his torso.

The first one jumped back, quickly trying to gain a sense of his surroundings. He twitched as a whistling noise approached him from behind him to the right and above. His fingers grabbed at the pouch on his belt and he deftly whisked several shuriken at the noise. The clinking and crashing of metal was his reply but he had no time to relax. A ninja must always look underneath the underneath. That had to be a trap.

His eyes widened as the whistling noise picked up again. Turning around he saw the shadow of a body falling on top of him. The boy's black haired rustled in the wind as he saw the blue-eyed boy widen his smile in victory. He smirked in return. The other one wasn't the only one that could set a trap.

His fingers twitched. The land rose from beneath to show a crude but effective launcher. Two rows of kunai from either side launched, catching the blue-eyed boy in the sides. He winced in pain before fading into nothing. The kunai continued to travel along their path.

Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique).

The balck-haired boy snarled. Bastard! Two traps in one attack? Since when had his opponent gotten that smart?

"Hah! Gotcha!"

He turned around to the sound of the voice only to catch an uppercut right on the chin. He flipped away, landing on the ground in a mess.

The blue-eyed smirked, his teeth slipping out. "Bastard. You dodged that, didn't you?"

The other boy got up, rubbing the edge of his chin that was red and raw. "Heh, you think I'd take a full hit from someone like you?"

"No…" Suddenly he was on top of him again, reaching for his shoulder. "I expect you to go down from this!" He grabbed the boy's shirt at the shoulder and hooked a foot around his ankle. Moving diagonally and shifting his weight, he made an improvised toss. However, it was far from efficient as the black-haired boy managed to catch his center of gravity and move it. He fell to the ground faster than was anticipated and lashed a hard quick straight to the other's back.

His spine took it full on and he fell forward, smacking the ground hard. He rolled and swirled to fall on all fours before dashing forward again, catching the other boy as he hit the ground. He grabbed one leg and bent it over the joint. A crackling of ligaments and tendons went throughout the air. The black-haired boy groaned harshly but bit his tongue. The position he was in prevented him from lashing back without possibly dislocating his own knee, but there were still other options he could take.

He grabbed a kunai that had been lying around after the earlier collision of weapons and flicked it upwards. The blue-eyed one, noticing the glitter, snatched his head back, the blade cutting a thin line into his cheek.

The movement wasn't much but it allowed the child in the hold to escape, twisting his leg and ignoring the pain until he felt it slip out of his grasp.

The two sprung apart, falling back into their original positions. They were worse for wear, panting a bit more heavily but not enough so that they would wait to catch their breath. The blue-eyed boy's injured spine had made his body hard to bend, and the black-haired one knew that his mobility had been reduced thanks to the temporary hold.

However, neither one of them was willing to back down. Their pride was on the line, and neither one was willing to admit that the other was a worthy match for them. Both were too arrogant, too stubborn, and too much like the other to admit to _any_ type of weakness.

And so they fell back onto old instincts and launched themselves at each other again. This time, however, things ended much differently.

As one lifted a leg for a snap kick and the other an arm for a downward thrust, they found themselves completely immobilized and an inch from striking each other into a perfect stalemate. Their bodies were paralyzed, unable to do anything else.

"Hai, hai, I think you two have fought enough." A tall man in an outfit that showed his jounin status walked up to them, slapping his hands together as if to rid them of dirt. He made a hand signal and then shouted for the release of the genjutsu he had cast on them, a technique that forced their muscles to freeze with contractions.

"Aww! Sensei!" The blue-eyed boy cried out when he found he could move again. "Didn't you see that I had him?!"

The other one snorted. "Yeah, you had me like you were about to make out with the ground."

The jounin's black eyes twinkled as the two fell into a heated argument. Before another fight could break out, he caught their attention and led them back to the sidelines where a girl who had been cheering them on rushed out to meet them. The three fell into conversation as they excitedly talked about their first lesson.

Another person was watching the group from across the training field. A young boy with blue eyes and blonde hair, whisker marks on his cheeks, and a mouth that was grinning from awed amazement.

Naruto leaned forward on the branch he was sitting on to view the fight, his eyes shining from excitement. "Wow…that was so cool!"

_**Feh, a fight for amateurs. Those two wouldn't last a day outside of Konoha's walls. They were too weak, too slow, and too incompetent. A real ninja would have taken out his opponent in the first strike, not posture and show off their skills. I would have destroyed them in a moment.**_

Naruto scowled and poked at his stomach with a finger. "Ah, shut it, fox-teme. I doubt you can destroy anything being sealed in my belly and all."

He could hear the distinct noise of growling floating on the wind. A small flash of killing intent washed through his mind, battering against his skull like waves of the tide on the beach _**You make it so much easier for me to have no remorse when the time comes for me to devour you, gaki.**_

"Yeah, yeah, Two years since you started talking to me and you can never come up with anything else. It's always devour me this and destroy them that." Naruto sniffed haughtily and rubbed his nose. He leaned against the tree and breathed in the clear air that wrapped itself gently around his body.

_**Though your wit has grown thanks to me you hardly make for a worthwhile conversation other than base instincts**_

"I talk about things other than base instincts! I talk…I talk about…" His stomach growled as if to give a topic to help out. He smiled in victory and nodded his head sharply. "I talk about ramen."

Kyuubi sighed. He was too annoyed to even bother to correct the boy's incorrect beliefs. Really, what the hell had happened to him? He was Kyuubi no Kitsune, the greatest being to walk the world. Wherever he went, people cowered in fear, and he left nothing but a swath of destruction and death in his wake. Beings lost their minds at the sight of him, and others hated and envied him for the power that only one such as himself could have possessed. He was the supreme being of the void, a shinigami that obeyed no one and took life whenever he pleased.

And now he was forced and bound to a snot-nosed brat that hadn't lived even a fraction of the time for him to gain even one of his once mighty tails? If that damned Minato hadn't already been dead and buried eight years ago Kyuubi would have muscled his way out of the boy and killed him with his son's own two hands.

But no, that was not something he could do. He would simply bide his time, wait until Naruto kept using his power and the seal weakened, and then burst out of this fleshy prison to climb back on his throne of absolute power and wipe out whatever life had grown back in his absence. But time was not something that he could forever rely on. Humans had such short lives, and their bodies were so fragile. For once Kyuubi realized the strength that humans had for fighting against the forces that lead them to an early grave. But he did not praise them for it; it only led him to despise the simple, stubborn creatures more.

He wanted for them to know their place.

Naruto frowned. "Kyuubi, quit thinking crap like that or I'll make you sorry that you did." A growl emanated from his throat and Kyuubi could feel a killing intent of the boy's own, though miniscule in proportion to his. His thoughts sunk further.

The effects of the seal made it able that their consciousnesses slipped into one another, making is so that they could tell what the other was thinking. It wasn't deep, they could only skim the others thoughts, recognize the others' feelings and emotional habits. Naruto's were simple, focusing on food, power, and a strong need for acknowledgement, the last increasing with each day that passed, with each moment that he crossed the seal into Kyuubi's black heart. Kyuubi's were even simpler, and he made no point in trying to hide them from the boy. Those nightmares would never leave him, no matter how many other dreams that came and covered them up.

But their goals were their own. Their desires were their own. However, the influence brought on by the other created a bond that made them much more similar then they would have wished for. Kyuubi felt that change the most, the only one to really recognize the change that had occurred. Naruto had grown into it, little by little, never having any other nature to go by. But Kyuubi had lived for thousands of years, and he felt the changes that had happened within the last decade. Naruto's innocent nature had latched on his merciless one. It rounded down his corners a little bit at a time, softening his mind, tenderizing his thoughts. He felt the vulnerability that Naruto, that all humans, felt.

He would never forgive either Minato or Naruto for that indiscretion.

He was massive, he was cruel, he slaughtered without thought or reason, and those that submitted to him met the same fate as those that didn't.

He was Kyuubi.

Naruto grumbled as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. His nose twitched, catching whatever scents floated by, his ears shifted for any sounds that would alert him to danger or opportunity. He was a living radar system, able to detect anything and everything that came within even the slightest distance of him. Finding that nothing special was up, he let out a great yawn. Smacking his lips, Naruto turned around and placed a foot on the tree's trunk.

A flow of chakra moved down his legs and gathered at his feet. They stuck to the trunk like industrial glue, and the boy walked down the tree like he was walking on the ground. He had found it so cool when he could stick to surfaces, and had immediately tried it with anything from trees to ceilings to bodies of water, looking like some kind of crazed gecko as he hung upside down and sideside across. What he didn't know was that this low-level chakra control was being instinctively controlled by Kyuubi, a side-effect of them sharing personas with the other. However, he didn't care how it happened as long _as_ it happened. It was too useful a tool when he wanted to escape from some trigger-happy townsfolk that managed to catch him off guard every once in a while.

Eventually making it to the ground, Naruto let out a mischievous smile. Kyuubi felt an astral migraine coming on as the boy's emotions flooded into his systems. "Oi, Kyuubi."

_**What is it now, gaki?**_

"Those ninja, the ones that fought you years ago…Were they strong?"

Kyuubi was silent. Then he snorted, his tone mocking. _**Feh, they were weaklings, through and through. No matter what they tried, whether it was by blade or jutsu or any other method, it would have been a million years before they could ever hope to take me down.**_ He paused a moment, gauging his prison's emotions and reaction. Something twitched inside of him, and he growled to himself. _**But in your terms, yes, they were strong. Much stronger than you, gaki, much stronger than you could even imagine of becoming.**_

Naruto was silent in return. He looked up at the sky, his eyes trailing the whispy clouds that loitered around in it. The breeze traversed across his face and his nose twitched. His face became solemn, and he looked down from the sky, focusing on the training grounds where that same group of genin and their jounin instructor were, learning something new.

Naruto's mouth turned up the tiniest bit, but then sunk back down into a thin line. His eyes were contemplative, pensive. It was a look that rarely found itself on the boy's face. Naruto was a creature of instinct, like the one that lived inside of him. He almost never thought of the consequences of his actions, and when he did, it was only the short term results, things that would happen in the next few minutes or hours or, if he ever thought long enough, days. Weeks were too much trouble, months beyond his interest, and years were something completely beyond his comprehension.

He lived in the here and now, scrounging for a life within the harsh environment that Kyuubi, the Yondaime Hokage, and Konoha had dealt him. He didn't have the time or the care to think about the future and what would come. But now…now…

"Do you think I could become strong?"

Kyuubi paused again. He was infinitely older than this child, infinitely stronger, and had seen infinitely more than him. So why did this little lump of flesh and blood always wear on him, always cause him to second-guess himself? The boy was annoying, proud, and willing to do anything as long as he gained power.

Much like him.

However, there was one significant difference. Kyuubi had given up everything. Anything he could have been, anything he could have had, he sacrificed to gain that unimaginable strength and fortitude. He didn't miss what he had given up, he never thought back and dreamed of regrets. Even with the boy's endless prattling and feelings closing in on his mind, he never once considered what he had done was wrong. It was simply who he was.

But Naruto was…he was different. He wanted more than power, but somehow, Kyuubi sensed deep inside that that made him the…better being, the one who considered the price? Or was he simply weaker, unwilling to sacrifice something for another one that was deeply rooted to his fragile emotions?

Kyuubi knew not the answer to any of these questions. But maybe, just maybe, he was willing to see how far the brat traveled before the realization of reality fell on top of him with all its weight. And who knew? Maybe the little worm could become even stronger than Kyuubi? The nine-tailed fox had to bite back a bark.

Impossible.

_**If you used my power more, you might become strong. Your own power is significantly weaker than anyone else's, so you would need all the assistance you could glean.**_ This time, he did laugh. _**Though I doubt you will ever gain enough strength to make me any more interested in that rag you call a soul.**_

Naruto stopped. He was an empathetic person. He could tell what a person was feeling through a mixture of senses – body language, facial expressions, the smell of their bodies, and even the way their hearts beat. If they were happy, sad, fearful, overjoyed, loathing, he could easily recognize it. They were the same emotions that could be held by a lower being – a rabbit or squirrel…or even a fox. Primal behaviors were something common to all forms of life, whether they were sentient or not.

But Kyuubi was someone that was even easier. It didn't matter that Naruto could easily read the beast's superficial thoughts. This was something deeper, something that could only be done by two whose souls shared the same plane. He knew what the fox was thinking, what he was refusing to say, and what he was hinting at all the while. To Naruto, what Kyuubi said was all that mattered at that moment.

His mouth curled up again, his lips spreading and parting. His teeth gleamed as a large grin appeared.

"Fox-teme, I guess I'll just have to show you."

Naruto spared one last glance at the training ninja before nodding to himself and taking off. His speed, though slow in comparison to the ones he had just been watching, was a pace unmatched by those of his age. It should have been.

He was running on all fours, after all.

BKBKBKBKBK

The door to Naruto's apartment rattled noisily as the lock came undone and then swung open. Naruto walked in, whispering "I'm home" to the empty room.

His room hadn't changed much at all since the boy had first started living there. There was a futon and a table that hung close to the ground. Several slightly rusted and dented pots were littered in the sink, greasy water filling them up and forming a thin ring of sludge on their surfaces. A few volumes of the latest manga that he was interested in was scattered in a small pile on the table. However, the most noticeable change had to be the staggering amount of instant ramen cups that were littered across the floor like his room was a private trash dump.

Naruto effortlessly sidestepped around the mess, his feet like a graceful dancer in a swamp, and made a beeline to his window, the glass pane shifted up to let the air and sunshine in.

On the windowsill were a few different specimens of plants. A fern, a small arrangement of flowers, and several vegetables including tomatoes and beans were all arranged in a line on the long windowsill that encompassed most of the wall. Naruto grabbed the watering can that was hanging off a hook next to them, shook it to check if there was any water left, and, when discovering that it was basically empty, walked over to the sink.

Knocking the pots aside, he made a silent promise to himself to clean the damn things so that he wouldn't risk the chance of getting himself sick. Of course, he always made that promise but this time he decided he would really keep it as the grime that was collecting inside the pots was starting to look like it was…growing.

Filling the watering can about three-quarters full, he walked back to the line of plants and began to meticulously water them, making sure didn't give each of them too much or too little. When he had first bought his few plants, he had made the mistake of over watering them, afraid that they would die of dehydration. However, upon discovering that they were looking more wilted as each day passed, he had actually bothered to go to the library, one of the _only_ times he had ever visited or even ventured near the building of learning, to see what he was doing wrong and then try to fix it.

Naruto liked gardening. He found it relaxing and had started doing it when he noticed the owners had a nice variety of flowers in their apartment the few times he had visited them to pay rent. The hobby was one of his few pleasures aside from ramen, watching the ninja train, and his frequent excursions into Konoha's forest. He felt that he needed something to combat the constant bloodthirsty thoughts that ran through his mind thanks to Kyuubi, and in a rare instant of insight chose that the act of raising something would be perfect.

The hobby acted in two-fold. One, the plants livened up and made his bland, mostly empty room a lot more colorful to live in. Two, he could eat the vegetables that had grown as well as selling them to Teuchi to gain an even further discount at the man's ramen place. The idea of cheap and free food was too much for the boy to resist, and Naruto had jumped at the chance to achieve such an ideal. Besides, Teuchi had made the side-comment that as glad as he was that Naruto visited his place so often, the boy would never get any bigger if he didn't diversify what he ate.

Just like the concept of free food excited him, the concept of him being small and weakly thanks to poor eating habits scared Naruto as well. Vegetables weren't exactly his most favorite of foods, but when he mixed them with his ramen or even some meat from one of his hunts in the forest, they tasted pretty good and complimented the main courses rather well.

His mind turned to his hunts in the forest. It was one of his more "guilty" pleasures. Kyuubi wanted more, and the constant array of bloodlust that was always circling around the boy's mind was seeking for an outlet to express itself. Granted, the few people who had gotten into a fight him and managed to cut off his escape never escaped without worse for wear, but as much as Naruto liked making sure that people didn't mess with him, he didn't feel like pissing off all the villagers even more by following Kyuubi's desires and performing certain…acts on those that really riled him.

So he managed to cut a compromise. Truthfully he enjoyed it. The scent of fear in his nose, the song of adrenaline in his veins, always waiting for that one perfect moment, and all that rich, delicious blood….it brought out a deep facet of his being that he tried to avoid releasing amongst Konoha's citizens. But he couldn't deny it; the emotions that ran through him during the hunt thrilled him. It was like a drug, and he knew that if he went any further he would never be able to stop.

Naruto grabbed a tomato and squeezed it, its pulpy interior firm underneath his fingers. He gripped the fruit harder and harder. Life was so fragile, so easy to break. Those that were underneath him, waiting to be dominated or destroyed. Those that were above him, waiting to be challenged and beaten. They were all pawns in the game, a joke in the face of power and absolute fury.

His fingers lessening, his hand retreating, Naruto bent down. Bruises had formed on the tomato, but it had not burst, its skin had not split. It was not ripe just yet; he had to wait a little longer.

Naruto's impassive face glanced at the other vegetables. They were at around the same stage of growth as the tomatoes. He noticed a few of the string beans were ready though, and a smile blossomed on his face.

Nodding, he walked back to the sink. Hopefully, he searched for another pot that was still passably clean. When discovering that there were none, he sighed and turned on the faucet. Hot water cascaded down from it, and Naruto grabbed the nearest pot and dish rag and went to work.

There were no sounds except for running water and small grunts as the blonde cleaned his cooking ware. He scowled, thinking that he should definitely clean more often if it became this hard to do so if he waited too long.

Eventually he finished, inspecting each pot to make sure that they were clean enough. Discovering that they were, he put one under the stream of water. When he collected enough, he put the pot on the small stove next to the sink, turning the heat all the way up. The smell of gas percolated through the air before a strong and brief flare of ozone came and the flame turned on. Naruto then turned around, leaving the water alone to boil, and walked back to the plants. Snapping off a few beans, he walked back over to the sink and proceeded to wash them off. When he heard the water begin to boil, he moved the pot off the burner, grabbed an unopened cup of ramen and poured the boiling water in.

Naruto walked over to the table, the cup of ramen in one hand and the washed beans in the next. Sitting down he ate his, alternating between the noodles and vegetables. When he was done, he let out a happy sigh and fell onto his back.

Looking up at the ceiling, Naruto found it odd how such a simple way of living could possibly be so satisfying. Even if there was no one around to acknowledge him, even if no one really cared, he was still living, still existing. A faint whisper in the back of his mind did desire more though, and it was growing with each day that he felt cold stares on his back and hushed whispers as he passed by.

Naruto turned onto his side, propping his head up with his arm. "Kyuubi, I'm bored."

_**And what do you expect me to do about it?**_

"Entertain me."

_**Feh, and why should I do that? I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, not some little shit's plaything.**_

"You're not so great anymore."

_**This coming from the boy who can only watch amateurs pretend at fighting and wish that he could be just like them.**_ Kyuubi snorted. _**With such low ideals it's no wonder that you infuriate me to no end. I was once a greatness rivaled by no other, but now I'm stuck in a brat who can do nothing more than twiddle his thumbs.**_

"I can do some things!"

_**Feh, you merely emulate me. You are nothing without me, and yet you prattle on and on about being strong. Strength is not something to be borrowed, gaki, strength is something that has to be earned or born with. Unfortunately for you, you have neither.**_

Naruto's short temper snapped. "All right, Kyuubi-teme, that's it! I'm gonna come in there and beat the absolute crap out of you!"

_**Come then, worm. Deliver yourself to me on a silver platter. It will be so pleasing to devour you in such a seemly manner.**_

Nothing happened. Naruto did not make any movements, and Kyuubi remained silent. Naruto took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. They were at a stalemate, and both of them knew it. They could insult, belittle, and curse each other out for as long as they wanted to. It would not make any difference. They were symbiotic, they depended on one another, and there was nothing in the world that could break both the bond that connected them and the chain that imprisoned them.

Naruto reflected on the words he had said earlier that day. Somehow they came back to his mind, stronger than before. He had said them through a moment of clarity, but now they were clouded and difficult to understand. What had he meant when he had thought of them? What did it mean to him to get stronger? Would he always be under the influence of Kyuubi, or would he be able to step out from underneath his shadow?

His thoughts tumbled about. Things had changed, hadn't they? Sure, people still hated him, and his life in the village wasn't the most pleasant of endeavors, but it wasn't the same hell that he had lived in only a few years past. He wasn't living in that rathole of an orphanage, prone to harsh, apathetic caretakers and bullies who thought nothing more of him than a quick ticket to currying others' favor. He didn't have to worry about being ambushed every moment of his life, attacked simply because his attackers were imitating the actions of the older villagers. Naruto knew of the so-called decree, or at least the fact that his role as Kyuubi's prison was classified and that the children of his generation were not privy to such information. The adults never said anything but the children mimicked them, and that was enough for the boy to realize that everyone was more or less against him.

But he was on his own now. He had his own apartment, and though the owners of the building didn't welcome him with open arms they were at least courteous and polite to him. Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were the same way. Every once in a while a look flashed across their eyes that went back to a past time, but it never lasted long, and they were always kind to him. Even just people like that, people who didn't chase him away or try to harm him, were a positive thing in Naruto's experiences. Ayame, who was still pretty close to Naruto's age, only a few years older, even joked around and teased him from time to time. It was that familiarity, that closeness that Naruto was beginning to crave more and more.

He was taking care of himself. Briefly he examined his clothing. Though still not on par with most of the other villagers' clothes, they were far above and beyond the ones he had worn at the orphanage. They were not stylish and sometimes a bit thin, but they were also completely intact, and protected him better against the elements than any had before. He'd probably have to save up for it, but Naruto was sure that the time would come when he could have enough money to overcome the boosted prices attached to him in stores, and buy some sets of clothes that fitted him.

His gardening, his hunting, they were both important aspects of his life that would invariably make him stronger. His cooking was getting better, and he was sure that soon he would be able to expand his meal repertoire beyond just ramen. The hunting was helping as well, as it forced him to pay closer attention to his surroundings and make better and quicker decisions to catch up to and capture his smaller, faster prey.

Even if Kyuubi was making him stronger, even if Kyuubi was giving him abilities that he couldn't normally attain on his own, would that really be all that bad? Naruto remembered something that Sarutobi had said, something about how a shinobi used everything at his disposal to get the job done. No matter how small or dangerous the item or process was, as long as it helped to complete the mission at hand, it was all good to go.

So that meant that with Kyuubi's help, he could become stronger. Even if he was loath to admit it, there were things that he couldn't do. But if he worked hard enough and overcame those deficiencies then he would be all the better, and could still use the fox's power to make him even stronger. Naruto wasn't sure if that was what Kyuubi meant by using his power, but at that moment the whiskered boy really couldn't have cared any less.

He would become stronger, and that was all there was to it.

Kyuubi said nothing as he felt the chaos rove through his prison's mind. He knew what the boy was feeling, remembered the scraps of history that he had all but obliterated from his past. Confidence, denial, self-esteem; all of these were both footholds and pitfalls in the journey to become a stronger individual. Kyuubi recognized that Naruto was having trouble believing in himself, but he also recognized the drive that refused to leave the boy's spirit. It wouldn't matter what came up, what pressed him down, or what held him back. The boy would emerge victorious over it all.

Minato was the exact same way.

The knowledge that the Yondaime Hokage was Naruto's father was something that he had kept secret from the boy for the last couple of years. That was something that he had kept buried, waiting for the moment when it would become most useful to his own needs. Besides, would it make any difference at this moment if the brat knew that the previous Hokage was his father? That the man who had sealed Kyuubi into him was his own father? That it was the same man that sentenced him to a life of ostracized isolation and baleful glances?

What about his mother? What would come out of it if he told the boy that the woman had died because of complications due to the strain of childbirth that all the medical expertise in the world could have never foreseen? In the end, the lie that had been spread about Naruto's origins was still partially true. His father had died, and his mother shortly afterward. That was all there was to it.

Besides, it wouldn't do if the boy stayed weak. He had to become stronger, for the demon's sake. Kyuubi was the most powerful being in the world. It wouldn't do if the boy he was trapped in remained as helpless as the day when Kyuubi first entered him. He had to become strong, to pass even the strongest person in matters of power. Because then, when Kyuubi finally emerged from Naruto's body, when that seal became weak enough for him to break free, he wanted to have a worthy battle with the worm that dared to stand in his way.

Like father, like son. The father had not defeated him, simply prolonged the battle by an indeterminate amount of time. But since Minato had now passed on to the next life, it was up to the man's legacy to carry out the fight.

Naruto would fight him, would bring out that wonderful exhilaration that he had felt eight years ago. And then, when Kyuubi destroyed him and devoured him both in body and soul, his pride would be avenged and regained, and he could continue in his design to bring about the end of all that lived.

It was something that he was looking forward to with great resolve.

"Oi, Kyuubi."

_**What is it?**_

"I'm going to get stronger. Stronger than anyone else, stronger than you."

_**I'd like to see you try, you hairless ape.**_

"You just wait and see. I'll become so strong that I'll put that reputation of strength that you worked so hard for to shame."

_**Good luck, gaki. You humans have such short lives. You won't even manage to achieve even a fraction of what I did even if you live out the entirety of your meager lifetime.**_

"That sounds like a challenge. Are you really so afraid that I'm going to get stronger than you that you wave something like that in my face?" Naruto grinned ferally. "I didn't think the great Kyuubi no Kitsune was such a grand, ol' coward."

_**Watch it, gaki.**_ Kyuubi chuckled. _**Had we met each other on even playing grounds, I would have destroyed you before you could even see just one of my fangs.**_

Naruto grinned even wider, his eyes slitting, his canines flashing. "I _will _become stronger, Kyuubi. You can count on that."

_**I look forward to that day with great anticipation, Naruto.**_

And then, both of them fell quiet again. Only the distant sound of people and work outside could be heard, floating in though the open window.

BKBKBKBKBK

The marketplace was filled with people searching for a good deal. Street merchant called for and cajoled potential customers, trying to entice them away from the interior shops and markets that stood only a few streets away. The street market was a good place to find a cheap price on random trinkets, foods, and accessories. It was also known for the wide variety of things that could be bought. Sometimes you could catch a much better price than those in normal shops, but more often than not it was just simpler items and primal necessities that could be found in it.

Naruto walked along the avenue, dodging between people and merchants. He usually went here if he ever really needed anything, as the sellers seemed much more eager to sell him goods than the normal ones did. That is to say, they didn't refuse service or sometimes chase him away, but there was still a noticeable difference in the "discount" given to him than to the other buyers.

But today was not a day for him to go shopping. He had a decent supply of instant ramen at home, and there was nothing much else that he needed to buy at the moment. Instead, he decided to take the chance to simply walk around the place. The street was so thickly crowded that people rarely recognized him, even with his shockingly bright yellow hair and whisker-like facial features. Most of them were strange enough as it was, with hair color varying from neon green to deep magenta, tattoos that covered almost every visible inch of their bodies, and sometimes ornaments that seemed more at home on a Christmas tree than the human body.

A freak amongst freaks was what Naruto thought as he maneuvered past people. Kyuubi had less kind and pleasing thoughts on the matter.

Walking down the road, taking the time to sneak quick glances at the stands, Naruto's eyes were caught on something at one of the smaller ones near the end of the street. There were several ink paintings unrolled and hanging from the top of the stand, each one depicting something different from people to events to abstract art. What had attracted Naruto was a long and thin wall scroll that had small but very detailed paintings of the four previous Hokage. They were shown in descending order, Sarutobi and Minato on the bottom. Naruto bent over, inspecting the Yondaime Hokage's picture. So this was the man that had save Konoha and sealed Kyuubi inside of him? He seemed a bit…wild for the leader of the hidden ninja village.

"You interested in that one?"

Naruto turned his head and saw a man that was in his late thirties, sitting on the ground cross-legged and smoking a pipe. He was looking at Naruto with the spark of a businessman.

Naruto tilted his head. "It's definitely cool looking." He pointed at the picture. "You make them yourself?" The man nodded. Naruto went back to looking. "They're very well made, almost like you saw them yourself."

The artist nodded, glad that the boy had seen to the heart of the drawing. "I never got the chance to meet the Shodaime and Nidaime as they passed before I was born, but I was lucky enough to see the Sandaime and even the Yondaime once before he died." There was no bitterness in his voice at mentioning the death of the previous Hokage, but rather a sadness and fond remembrance. There was also no sudden flash of hatred directed at Naruto at the mentioning of Kyuubi's incident.

Naruto quickly noticed this. "You're not from this village?"

The artist shook his head. "I'm from a village far to the east, one within Tea Country. I once visited Konoho when I was younger and trying to gain some inspiration for my drawing, and managed to see the Yondaime when he was walking around the city. I came back and settled here only a few months ago and heard what happened. It's too bad." He shook his head. "From what I gathered the Yondaime was really a great man."

Naruto nodded at the explanation, realizing why the man did not seem to initially hate him. He either didn't completely know of what had happened, or no one had managed to convince him of Naruto's "crime" yet. Naruto carefully stared at the painting. "It's really a good picture. I never saw him since I was just a baby at the time, but with this it feels like I knew him for a long time." It was neither empty flattery nor politeness, Naruto had never become good or cared enough for it. He said what came to mind and didn't think what would come of it.

Seeing the smile that had appeared on the boy's face, the artist allowed one to appear on his. "Would you like to buy it?"

Naruto started and stood up quickly, an expression of surprise on his face. He glanced at the artist for a second before laughing sheepishly. "Sorry, but I'm a little strapped for cash right now."

He chuckled in return. "Don't worry, I'll cut you a good deal."

"Really? But…" Naruto shook his head and grinned. "Never mind! I'll take it!"

"Good lad! I see you have an eye for art, so I'll make it worth your while."

Paying for the scroll, Naruto rolled it up and stuck it in the waistband of his pants, having no other place to hold it. He knew that buying it would make his living expenses a bit hard to meet, but he could always go live in the woods for a few days to collect food. He waved the man goodbye and walked off, feeling happy at his impulse buy. He could hear Kyuubi laughing quietly in the back of his mind but he chose to ignore the fox.

Naruto had walked out of the marketplace and was considering where to go next when he heard a voice calling out to him.

"Ah, Naruto. There you are."

The boy turned and his eyes widened in mild surprise. "Jiisan? That you? What are you doing here?"

Sarutobi smiled at the young boy. He was not flanked by ANBU members this time, though he doubted he would have to worry about any attacks on his being. The several ANBU ninja that were watching from strategic vantage points around the street were proof enough for that. He glanced over the boy quickly, taking in his looks. Naruto had grown over the past two years. He was taller, leaner, and certainly stronger. Baby fat was still on his face but it was sharper than before. His eyes had become sharper as well, holding a clever and witty intelligence that had not been there a few years ago but balanced out by a capricious and playful nature that still clung to childhood. The whisker marking were more pronounced, and though he couldn't see the lad's stomach, he was sure that the seal was darker in color as well.

"Actually I was coming to see how things were going with you. It's been a few months since the last time and I wanted to make sure that all was alright."

Naruto walked over to the man, aware of the looks that he was receiving as he did so. The Sandaime Hokage and the dreaded demon boy talking to each other in such a common place? Naruto didn't really care what people thought of him, at least in the negative sense, but the problems that could happen to Sarutobi-jiisan because of him made him a bit anxious. It didn't show in his expression but it was still lingering in his mind.

He patted at his waist where the painting was. "I'm fine. Nothing much has happened. I was just on my way to get some lunch, but I kinda splurged on something else so I think that's not possible right now." He winced mentally at realizing this. The drawing had interested him but now he couldn't go for his several bowls of ramen at Icharaku. But still, that was what he had known beforehand when he bought the scroll.

Sarutobi's smile became softer. "Then would you like to come with me to get some? My treat."

Naruto almost immediately pounced on the chance for free ramen but then remembered what he had been thinking on before. One, his idea of food would not exactly befit the leader of the entire village. Two, fraternizing with the pariah of the village would only hope to hurt Sarutobi's standing with the town's people and officials. As much as he wanted the offer, he found he couldn't in good conscious do so.

He was about to decline when Sarutobi interrupted him. "A good leader needs to know how to get along with his people. If the people don't respect him then how can he expect them to follow him when a crisis emerges? Just think of this as a public relations event." Sarutobi knew he was twisting his words for his own benefit, and that Naruto would only understand the most basic gist of what he had said, but there were times when one had to just forgo common status barriers for the common good. He had made a promise to Minato that he would help the boy out. It was bad enough that the previous Hokage's son could not even know his own father and had to be subjected to the prejudiced and falsely based biases of the very people that he had saved. These small pokes and prods for Naruto were the least he could for the boy.

Naruto looked wary for a moment before he shook his head. Sarutobi was a bit discouraged but then confused as the boy shook his head even more before looking up and grinning. "Sure, jiisan! That sounds good."

Sarutobi nodded and allowed Naruto to lead him. The boy refused to walk by his side, instead keeping a good several feet ahead. Perhaps it was to save Sarutobi's face in the eyes of the villagers? The older man laughed at the young boy's naivety. Eventually they found themselves at Icharaku Ramen. Naruto plopped himself onto a seat, calling out to the owner. Teuchi smiled at his most frequent customer and then his eyes widened as Sarutobi ducked into the place as well.

"Hokage-sama!" the man said in bewilderment. "It's an honor to have you at my shop."

Sarutobi waved off the greeting. "There is no need for formality. I am here as a customer and nothing more. It has been a while since I have had ramen. I do look forward to the people that have fed Naruto so gracefully here and their food."

"Of course, Sarutobi-sama!" Teuchi bowed, ignoring the stifled snort that Naruto gave at the action. He then called over his shoulder. "Oi, Ayame! Naruto's here!"

The young brunette walked out from the kitchen. Upon seeing Naruto a happy smile blossomed on her face and she walked over to the young boy, her voice lilting. "Naruto-kun, it's so nice to see you again!"

Naruto grinned at the pretty older girl. "Hey, Ayame-neechan."

Ayame noticed that Sarutobi was sitting there, watching their interactions. She jumped slightly at realizing who it was before giving a short, formal bow. Sarutobi waved her off the same way he had done so with Teuchi. Ayame leaned closer to the boy and whispered in his ear. "How do you know someone like Hokage-sama?"

Naruto looked over at Sarutobi who was currently conversing with Teuchi, turned back to Ayame, and shrugged. "Sarutobi-jiisan said he used to be friends with my dad, so he checks up on me every once in a while. It's strange to me, too."

"Wow…Didn't know that little Naruto was so friendly with people that were so high up." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Ayame's drawn out awe. She giggled. Naruto was a sweet boy, and she didn't quite know why people hated him so much. She and her father had arrived sometime after the Kyuubi incident and Ayame didn't know yet about the whole circumstance. Her father did but he didn't tell her anything nor did he seem to care much about Naruto's "condition." There was the occasional irrational paranoia caused by the other villagers' words, but for the most part he just couldn't connect the young boy that frequented his shop and that his daughter had taken a shine to and the great nine-tailed fox that ran amuck. To them, he was simply Naruto.

She looked at the boy. "So, what can I get you today?"

"I'll just take three bowls of miso today. Sarutobi-jiisan's paying and I don't feel like bankrupting him."

Ayame giggled again. "Right. Three bowls coming right up!" She turned and went back into the kitchen.

A few minute passed and the food was delivered. Naruto watched as Sarutobi slowly went over his bowl before proceeding to devour his own. The two ate in relative silence, broken only by the occasional slurping noises Naruto made as he hastily tore through meal. When he was halfway through his last bowl, Naruto took another glance at Sarutobi. The man was eating quietly, politely. Obviously the Hokage had to be a master of etiquette or something.

His eyes gravitated towards the three-corner hat that the elder wore. It was the symbol of Sarutobi's position in life, his status as the leader of all the ninja in the village hidden in the leaves. Naruto's thoughts went back to the scroll that he had taken out of his pants before sitting down so that it wouldn't be crinkled. He looked down at the rolled-up piece of parchment in his lap. He slurped down a portion of noodles, his face thoughtful, and then opened his mouth again.

"Jiisan, what's it mean to be Hokage?"

Sarutobi's face slackened and he turned his head to look at the boy. Naruto was looking at him sternly, earnestly. His eyes were serious, his mouth a slight pout. Sarutobi considered what the boy was thinking about and sighed. He pushed his bowl away and turned in his seat so that he could face Naruto. Sarutobi sighed.

"They are the people that act as the protectors." Naruto's confused expression said all that he needed to know. "The Hokage are people who are selected to act as the guardians to the villages that they live in. They make sure that its people are safe, act as ambassadors to the other hidden villages, and procure the missions that the village's ninjas have to perform."

"So…they act as the father of the village and all the villagers are their children?"

"Perhaps, if that is the way that you view it. The village is very much like a family, and the Hokage has to make sure that the family gets along well with itself as well as with others."

Naruto frowned and looked down at his ramen. He glanced back up at Sarutobi. "Why is there a Hokage in the first place?"

Sarutobi sighed. "That is a bit of a harder question. Long ago before places like the hidden villages were founded, shinobi simply acted as mercenaries, working for the highest bidder. As such, there were many wars between various families of royalty, and many lives were lost in the process. People were sick of the meaningless bloodshed and decided to do something about it. The tale is different depending on which country it is from, but the concept remains the same. A village was formed to house shinobi and give them a place to call home. They were no longer wandering swords-for-hire. Instead, they had a place to come back to, people to come back for, and an ideal for them to achieve. Konoha was no different."

Sarutobi watched as Naruto tried to process all of it. He doubted the boy could understand everything he had said; he was young after all. Still, the idea of a family and home was not as foreign to Naruto as many would have thought. The boy knew, better than anyone, what joy it would be to know that you had someone waiting for you, a warm home filled with people that cared about you. Naruto didn't have that, but he certainly realized the value of it. That made the boy more grateful for the chance that anyone else.

"There's a lot of stuff the Hokage has to do, isn't there, jiisan?"

"Yes, a Hokage has many responsibilities. He has to watch over all the ninja that work for him as well as for all the ninja that would try to harm his people."

"Can the Hokage change the way things go?"

Sarutobi paused at the tone in Naruto's voice. It was slight, but after years of having to read peoples' emotions, it came to him easily. "Yes, the Hokage can change the way things are run. But the Hokage is not all-powerful. He cannot change peoples' hearts, but he can help to influence them."

Sarutobi watched as the boy fell into silence, occasionally picking at his ramen. He smiled. Yes, Kyuubi had changed the boy, that much was clear. But, like Minato had said, Naruto was still Naruto, and no amount of personality mixing or spirit altering would ever change that. The boy was a proud member of Konoha, and nothing would ever change that pure, simple, and truthful fact.

"Naruto, do you know what three things the Hokage needs to be a good Hokage?" The boy looked at him, his face unsure. Sarutobu held up a finger for each reason he counted off. "The Hokage must be strong, the Hokage must be brave, but most of all, the Hokage must care for the people that are under his care." He leaned over and smiled at the boy. "Do you understand?"

Naruto tilted his head and did nothing. Then slowly, surely, a smile spread itself across his face. He nodded his head rapidly. "Sure, jiisan, I understand perfectly." Sarutobi smiled as the blonde jumped down from his seat and saluted the man. "Well then, I'll see ya again, jiisan! Thanks for the meal!" He then ran off, leaving the white-haired, wrinkled man alone in his seat.

Sarutobi chuckled to himself and made a hand signal. An ANBU member appeared by his side. Sarutobi paid for the ramen that he and Naruto had ordered and politely gave farewell to the stand's owner and his daughter which they replied in turn. As he walked down the street, the sun shining on his head but protected by his hat, he couldn't help but think of the boy in amusement.

_Uzumaki Naruto…_

He couldn't wait to see how that boy would turn out.

BKBKBKBKBK

Naruto sat down and stared at his handiwork. He had taken the wall scroll and hung it next to his plants, using a spare nail he had gotten from the managers. It was unrolled in all its glory, showing each of the four Hokages in their various poses. Naruto grinned and took a closer look before scooting back.

"Fox-teme, guess what I'm going to do?"

Kyuubi's voice trembled upward, like he had been resting. _**You're going to shut up and not bug me for the rest of the week? Because your inane chattering is getting on my nerves.**_

Naruto ignored him and continued. "You want power, right? And I want the villagers to quit treating me like crap and give me respect instead, right?"

_**And you plan on doing this how exactly?**_

Naruto grinned, his canines serving an entirely different purpose than what the boy intended them for. Naruto bit back a laugh as he felt Kyuubi's frustration rise as he refused to say anything. "It's easy. What's the one person that commands respect but is also known to be the most powerful person in the village?"

_**I swear, gaki, if you keep talking like that, I'm going to…**_

"I'm gonna be Hokage."

There was nothing. And then glorious mocking laughter filled Naruto's mind. It crept into every corner, sunk into every crack, and filled everywhere else with its insulting, ringing tone. Naruto growled at the way he had reacted. He was completely serious. He was going to teach those villagers to not treat him like they had. He would show what a "beast" he was. As much as he hated they way the villagers thought, he didn't want them to die or anything like that. He would simply change how they thought, and let things take off from there.

"Oi! I'm being serious here!"

_**That's not it, gaki. I was just imagining how those fools would react when they found out the very thing they hated and despised commanded them all. It's a humiliation on par with what was done to me. I find the irony both delicious and very filling.**_

"So, that means you think I can do it?"

_**No, I don't think you have a single chance.**_

"Well, screw you!"

_**But I do think it would be interesting if you tried. At least I would gain a few laughs along the way.**_

Naruto's frown slipped back into that feral smile. He would show them, the villagers _and_ Kyuubi. He would show them what he was capable of, and all of them would realize the errors of their ways. Naruto looked at the scroll, remembering also the Great Monument that housed the likeness of the past Hokages' faces. He grinned again as a silly but intriguing thought came to view.

It would be _his_ face that would be the next one carved into that giant stone wall.

He swore it.

A/N: Well, that's the end of the chapter. It's shorter than the previous one, so yay. Once again, not much to talk about. Naruto will get more "interesting" in the next chapter, so look forward to that. Also, hope you like the Naruto/Kyuubi dynamics as I found it pretty fun to write. One more thing, tell me about the action scene in the beginning. Bad? Good? Considering that Naruto is a shounen series there are a LOT of action scenes, and I have to polish up on them. Other than that, hope you enjoyed it. Looking forward to next time. Please review, and remember, no flames!

_Next Chapter – Red and Blue Beasts_


	3. Red and Blue Beasts

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. Surprise, surprise, I chose to do the Naruto one again. Blame an OCD tendency of mine, but I had to do this first! Anyway, expect some fun in this one, as well as some early introductions to some sorely needed characters. Also, I'm sorry if the quality of this chapter is subpar to the first two. I lost some steam while writing and kind of plodded on through. Hope it isn't as bad as I feared it might be. Well, anyway, hope you find this chapter interesting! But before we do that, a word with my reviewers.

**blackwolf0925:** Don't worry, no genius Naruto here. As far as I've seen Naruto is dumb. And I mean _dumb_! I'm talking like a post here people. Genius Naruto can be good if done properly, but otherwise it's just cheap tries at making a strong character more than perfect. And as for pairings? Who knows? But canon pairings? Are there really such things? No, seriously, I mean that. Other than Asuma/Kurenai, I can't think of any serious and blatantly confessed pairings (well, some, but not within Naruto's group.) Everything else is just fandom.

**dragon695:** Yay for gardening! Ahem. Anyway, as for the clothing changes, yes, there is. But I do think it's a legitimate character change and not something superficial. The way I see it, Naruto got the orange jumpsuit for one of either two reasons, maybe both. One, it was because no one would sell him something otherwise and he was stuck with it. I mean, a bright orange ninja? Okay, well, that matches Naruto's abnormal personality but _still_. Two, he wore it _because_ he wanted to get as much attention as possible, and you've gotta admit – it's hard to ignore a screaming ball of yellow and orange hyper energy. But this Naruto is different from the canon, and gets attention in a different way, as you will soon see.

Thank you to the rest of my reviewers!

Disclaimer: I, in no way, own, created, or have in my possession the franchise of Naruto. I don't want legions of Naruto/Sasuke fangirls after my hide, after all.

**Butterfly and Kyuubi  
Chapter 3: Red and Blue Beasts  
By Irritus185**

The forest was dark, interrupted by rays of light only when the boughs of the trees moved to reveal a path for the sun to make its way. It was quiet, a very light wind playing through the leaves. It was supposed to be quiet. There was a hunt going on, and none of the other creatures wanted to interfere for fear of becoming the beast's next target.

It ran. It ran as fast as it could. Its heart was beating at such a fast pace that each individual beat seemed to melt into the other. Blood pounded in its ears, and its mind was a whirl of completely erratic thoughts. But each of those separate idea merged to form one that was all too common to not know and all too important to try and ignore.

Run. Run before death found it.

Its ears twitched in every direction, listening for the moment when the predator would arrive. Its eyes had only caught brief moments and glimpses of that indefatigable monster that trailed it relentlessly. Snatches of brown and green and red and blue; bearing down on it, circling it, and moving through the trees with a nasty grin on its face.

Playing with its life like it was nothing but a toy.

It could do nothing but run. It was no match for the creature that came on tooth and claw and unending bloodlust. It couldn't hide. Every time it tried to dive into a safe haven, the beast would simply catch it one step ahead, forcing it to move somewhere else to try again and allow the process to repeat.

Its brain was simple and primal. It did not recognize the reason for its hunter involvement with it nor could it fashion a way to try and trick the monster into chasing something else. It could only follow its instincts and do the one thing that they ordered it to do.

Run. Run.

Run for its life.

It dodged behind a tree root, trying to run around the trunk and hopefully outmaneuver its follower. It made it halfway through the action before its blank, watery eyes caught movement from above.

The beast fell on top of it. Its sharpened canines wrapped themselves around its furry neck, slicing through the loose skin and fur meant to protect it from attacks like there was nothing there at all. Razors slashed through its arteries, and pure, rich blood burst from its body, drenching the beast's mouth.

The beast shook the little animal lightly, grinning as its sporadic twitching signaled the end of its quickly waning life. A tail, made of fog and blue light, swayed back and forth calmly and smoothly. That same azure curtain traveled down the rest of the creature's body, covering its legs and torso and arms and head, forming the likeness of an oversized fox. The light ended in wickedly sharp nails and fangs that dripped with a crimson liquid. Its eyes were slitted as it watched the rabbit give one last shudder before falling still.

The beast grinned. Another hunt complete, another sacrifice of life to that insatiable demon that pervaded it. It planted the once living rabbit on the ground with a paw, ripping out a sizeable chunk of its belly and swallowing it after a few rough chews, ignoring the possibility of disease and pests. It repeated the process again and again, finishing its meal with feral pleasure and abandonment.

A gong sounded. A bell rang clearly and sweetly across the forest, barely muted by the thick foliage. The creature twitched its ears and grinned, wiping its mouth with its darkly colored sleeve. The smile wasn't as animalistic as before, more excited and gleeful than anything else. This was something different than the hunt, something that provided a different way for it to achieve that glorious feeling of strength and power.

It leaned back and then launched itself in to the air, ricocheting off trees like a mad pinball as it traveled through the area at incredible speeds.

It could not be late. It had been waiting for this moment to come for a while now, ever since the last time.

Ninja academy had finally begun again.

BKBKBKBKBK

Umino Iruka looked over his checklist again. The year for fresh, new ninja cadet hopefuls to learn the basics of ninjutsu and become proud members of Konoha was starting today. He had been acting as a teacher for the academy for a few years now and he couldn't wait to see what kind of potential he could teach this year again. So far most of the students looked to be the basic types – ones who were already part of shinobi families and were hoping to follow in the footsteps of those that came before them. There weren't any noteworthy ones to speak of, as it seemed that most of the candidates this year were from some of the more minor clans of Konoha's shinobi – the Gokyus, Tsutamas, Reidans, and Okianos, to name a few.

The only ones that really seemed to catch his interest at the particular moment were two. One of them was Hyuuga Neji. Iruka was surprised to see one of the prosperous Hyuuga clan attending the academy this year. Of course, the boy was from one of the branch families, and even he knew of the troubles that abounded from that seemingly minor detail, but he was still looking forward to the young lad that held one of the most prominent bloodlines that the village had ever produced. It was bound to be an interesting year, though he could tell already that the boy might make that interest into a headache from the cold attitude he projected.

The other one was…Iruka scanned the classroom, looking for that person. He groaned in frustration when he saw that the boy wasn't there. Of course, an idiot that had already failed the exam once before was definitely going to cause some trouble for both him and the class, but that could be fixed with enough work. Iruka just wished that he could beat some proper sense into the child and make him understand that this whole ordeal was not a game. He had to realize that becoming a ninja was serious business and that someone who…who…Iruka sighed again as his thoughts began to wander to more unsavory areas.

But still, that boy; he would have to have a good talk with that trouble-making, sardonic, almost bestial child. That…

The door to the lecture hall slammed open. The entire class turned to see who had made such a loud commotion. A young boy walked through the doorway, his arms crossed across his chest in an arrogant manner, the action reflected by the half-smirk, half-grin on his face.

"You can finally start class now! Uzumaki Naruto is here!"

Iruka growled loudly as the class suddenly fell into disarray thanks to the fool's loud outburst. He rose both of his hands, one curling into a fist and slamming on his desk, the other forming into an outreached finger to point accusingly at the boy. His face was twisted up in exaggerated anger and exasperation.

"You're late! And this is only the first day!"

Naruto fell into tumultuous laughter. He had changed a great deal after a couple years had passed. He was taller again, but still rather short in comparison to the other children that were a good year older than him. His eyes had become narrower, giving off even more the image of a crafty fox ready to trick an unwary victim. His eyes had grown more slitted as well, the irises and pupils matching those of a cat. He seemed more hyper, more cunning, but just as smart as he had been since he first decided to become a ninja. In other words, he looked like a demented jackal that had been smacked in the head one too many times.

His clothes had changed as well. Gone were the thin shirts and shorts that showed an impoverished child. Replacing them were tightly fitted pants and a shirt, covered by a light jacket. The outfit was darkly colored, a mixture of brown, green, and red. The color scheme wasn't very flattering, but it wasn't meant to be as such. It helped him to blend into his environment, as the dark, natural colors melded with the heavily wooded terrain.

"Sorry for that, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto chortled between subdued laughs. "I'm ready to learn now!"

Iruka sighed and put the hand he had levering at the child to his face, palm inward. "Just…go and sit down, Naruto. I'll think of a punishment for your tardiness later." He went back to making a few last minute checks before he would start the orientation for the academy.

The boy threw a sloppy salute. He swung his arms behind his head, pressing his hands against the back of his head, a wide grin on his face, and walked into the seats.

The other children watched. They had heard of the boy from his parents. Some had even seen him around the village, running to and fro like some kind of wild animal. Their parents had said there was something wrong with the boy, something terribly skewed and dangerous. And they, being the normal children that imprinted off their parents that they were, had that notion rubbed off of them. Almost immediately their eyes were tracking him, looking for any possible hazards the boy would bring about.

Naruto ignored the stares that were focused on him. It was just something that happened everyday, something that he had grown accustomed to. His eyes roved around the room, taking small note of the students that always seemed to just miss meeting his gaze and the ones that burned their eyes into his. His smile grew wider at the latter, revealing sharpened, elongated canines that seemed completely out of place on such a young child. It had the desired effect as most of the children that had been trying to stare him down either backed off immediately or pretended that they found something else more interesting.

Only one child refused to look away from him. A boy that appeared to be a bit larger than Naruto, with pitch-black hair that ran to the middle of his back, continually stared at him. His pale white and lavender eyes refused to deter from the path of sizing up and analyzing the blonde. Naruto looked back, that self-satisfied smirk conflicting with the stern visage of the boy. Naruto nudged the back of his brain.

_Oi, fox-teme._

Kyuubi stirred and growled in slight annoyance. _**What is it, gaki?**_

_Why the hell is that kid staring at me like he wants to cut me in half?_

Kyuubi said nothing for a moment. Then he gave a little chuckle. _**Ho? If it isn't one of the Hyuuga clan…I'd never forget those wraith-like eyes. Perfect for worms who don't deserve to see the light of day.**_

_So, his clan is really weak?_

_**Feh,**_ Kyuubi snorted _**The Hyuuga clan is an ancient one, possibly one of the first on this pitiable planet. He'd probably take you down no matter how many times you fought him. I'd thoroughly enjoy the trouncing he'd give you if you ever tried.**_

Naruto inwardly sneered. He still didn't know how Kyuubi knew so many of the major clans of Konoha, but he didn't really care either way. Kyuubi had been around a long time, so he guessed it was common sense that the fox would know at least some things about the various shinobi clans. Traveling the world for millennia, a being was bound to pick up certain things along the way. For what it was worth the information was helpful, if not interesting, the few times the demon bothered to go into detail about specific clans special abilities.

Naruto found himself caught between two conundrums – on one hand, he was _learning_, something that did not really much appeal to someone of his nature. On the other hand, he was learning things he doubted he'd ever find out otherwise. Things like family jutsus or even that confusing but very cool sounding bloodline thing, kekkei genkei, were bits and pieces of something larger. He didn't think he would ever understand most of it, if he ever managed to remember anything in the first place, but he was sure the stuff he _did_ remember and understand would become something utterly valuable and irreplaceable.

Naruto kept smiling, never breaking the gaze between them as he continued to walk across the room. Only a few seconds passed before the Hyuuga frowned thoughtfully and turned back to face the front of the class again.

Naruto said nothing. He headed down the stairs, stopping at the end of the classroom that bordered on the outside, large windows letting in sunlight and a gentle wind. Halfway down the stairs, he turned and squeezed his way through the various seats, finding an empty one second to the end.

The one that occupied the seat at the end was a boy in a Chinese styled vest with baggy pants, his shoulder-length black hair pulled back into a sectioned ponytail. The boy had large black eyes and even larger eyebrows that seemed to crawl across his forehead. But while the oddly sized brows were something that Naruto found both amusing and intriguing, it wasn't what caught his attention in the first place.

The boy smelled. It wasn't that he smelled badly or had a rotten stench to him. He simply smelled. Naruto had come to rely on his senses other than sight a lot more lately. They were especially handy when the light was especially bad and he couldn't rely on his eyes. That which he smelled helped Naruto out a lot. He could tell so many different things from scent other than what was being cooked in various abodes, which was still very much enjoyable. Where a person had been, what their habits were, even a very primitive hint at what they were feeling – each of these aspects could be scrounged from a person's innate scent.

Naruto's grin slipped into a friendlier one. He liked how this boy smelled. He smelled of earth and the faint scent of sweat. A very…natural smell. He extended a hand like it was the easiest thing to do. "Yo, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy seemed surprised and jittery for a moment. But then his eyes and mouth settled into a determined frown. He grasped Naruto's hand and gave it a firm shake. Naruto's smile deepened as he felt the solidity and strength of the other boy's hand. "Hello, Naruto-san. I'm Lee Rock."

"Right. Nice ta meet'cha." Naruto leaned forward on the table, resting his chin on his upraised arm and palm. He looked straight ahead, watching as Iruka ran through his notes in the class. "So, you want to be a ninja?"

Lee nodded. "I would think that would be obvious as we are in an academy for shinobi candidates." His tone was not mocking. It was simply stating the facts. Naruto's opinion of the boy went up a notch. Straightforward; that was good in a person, especially since it made them that much easier and harder to tease with that paradoxical attitude.

Naruto turned and closed his eyes. "Right, right, forgot about that." He chuckled briefly. "Well then, if you have any questions, just ask me. I'll be glad to help anyway I can."

Lee's eyes widened a bit. "Forgive me for saying so, but you seem a bit young, Naruto-san. How can you help me when you seem to know even less than I do?"

"Ah." Naruto waggled a finger in front of his face, raising his eyebrows in mock superiority. "Rule number one of being a good shinobi – never underestimate or assume anything about a person that you don't know yet. I might be younger than you but I've already been through the academy once before." He then threw back his head and barked off a small laugh. Lee leaned back a little as the blonde seemed to snap. Naruto calmed back down and chuckled, rubbing his finger underneath his nose. "But you're still half right. If I was as smart as I made myself out to be I wouldn't be repeating a year here."

"You've failed once before?" Lee appeared to have grown an interest in the smaller boy.

"Yup. I came to the academy before last year."

"I'll say it again, you do seem a bit young."

Naruto waved his hand. "I entered the academy three years early. There were special circumstances, but needless to say it proved that I wasn't quite ready to graduate." He chuckled again and rubbed the back of his head. "I was dead-last in my entire class. Hah! How's that for a shining victory?"

Lee put a fist to his mouth, trying to muffle the laugh that was slipping out through his lips. His hand didn't hide his smile from Naruto though. "It does seem a tad…unsatisfactory."

Naruto laughed again. "You're a funny guy, Lee. I think this year will be a lot more interesting than the last."

The two chatted a little while longer but quickly settled down as Iruka began to talk to the entire class. Naruto put his head as the chunin launched into an explanation of what was going to come in the following year at the academy and what was expected of all the ninja candidates. He had heard the entire lecture last year and noted with a hint of amusement that it was almost an exact repeat, word for word. Apparently Iruka was a creature of habit and refused to think up anything different other than the generic dribble he was spouting out at them.

Naruto had managed to get special permission from Sarutobi to enter the shinobi academy three years before children were legally allowed to. He still didn't know how the elderly Hokage had managed to do so, but the old man must have pulled a lot of strings to get the single most hated person in the village into a facility that popped out dozens of ninja every year. Naruto suspected that the villagers were both unhappy and even a little scared that Kyuubi's prison was going to be learning how to become a, supposedly, "unfeeling killing machine." Would Kyuubi break free after feeling such emotions in his vessel? The threat was obvious, the concern even more so.

But Naruto didn't care. Kyuubi was a part of him, a deep part of him, and he didn't intend for the imprisoned beast to burst out any time soon. Naruto would grow stronger, Kyuubi would stay locked up, and that's all there was to it. Besides, if his dream of becoming Hokage would ever come close to becoming true, he had to clear the first step and become a certified genin. All of the Hokage were famous and "normal" ninja, and while Naruto was anything _but_ normal, he didn't feel like breaking that rule of the matters. He would become a shinobi, and then rise to the top and achieve his ultimate goal.

However, he quickly came to realize just how hard it would be to even manage that very first step. He was much younger than any of the other ninja candidates, and while his attributes were significantly enhanced thanks to Kyuubi's influences, it still didn't match up to the general fitness of his older and bigger classmates. He was very quick on his feet, but the overwhelming strength of his more experienced peers quickly and brutally showed his flaws. His physical advantages were the only things he could flaunt, but they still paled in comparison to everybody else. He was too weak, didn't have enough stamina, couldn't make decisions quickly enough in battle…The list went on, and sadly enough that was just with his taijutsu skills.

Ninjutsu and genjutsu were even worse. Naruto found that, thanks to Kyuubi, he had a chakra capacity that was leagues over anyone his age and even some high-ranking jounin. However, that only complicated matters. His capacity was too much for his small body. To put it simply, it was like trying to shove a lake into a one-liter bottle. It strained and pushed and eventually overflowed, and it could not be contained or manipulated. As a result, his chakra control, possibly one of the single most important things to a ninja, was horrendous beyond all belief. He couldn't shape his chakra without pulling out too much or too little, disrupting the entire molding process and causing everything to backfire. Even with the simplest of techniques, they would more than often just explode into a cloud resembling smoke coming from a dirty muffler. Naruto grimaced as he remembered the time he had attempted a lightning jutsu and had electrocuted himself into unconsciousness. Of course, he woke up not even a minute later, proof of his extraordinary regenerative skills, but the fact that he dreaded and cursed still remained.

He would never be able to properly perform two-thirds of a shinobi's basic repertoire.

His head sunk lower as more depressing thoughts assaulted him mind. There was even more that was wrong with him. The taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu problems were only the practical half of becoming a ninja. There was also the knowledge portion of his education.

The other major hidden villages, what their various histories were, the socio-economical values of Konoha, the laws of the ninja, what signs led to more efficient chakra usage, the vital parts of the human body…Naruto's brain threatened to explode as it pounded into him these facts and concepts and ideas.

Ah, damn it! What did any of that matter?! It was boring! It was pointless! What use would it be for him to know the income produce percentage of Sunagakure or what angle he would need to throw a kunai if a ninja was coming at him from thirty feet below at five meters per second? What possible use would they make in the middle of battle? A ninja needed instincts, pure will, and overwhelming power to defeat enemies; not statistics and graphs and all that crap…

Naruto was not looking forward for another year of being lectured to. The practical parts of the academy would be anticipated, where he could polish his skills in all areas of becoming a ninja. The feel of adrenaline in his veins, the danger that rang in his head, knowing that each moment could possibly be his last; he wanted to feel that again so badly. With animals he could immerse himself in the moment of the hunt, but it didn't exhilarate him as much as hunting something that could fight back. Though he had suffered a fair amount of defeats last year, he had become all the better for it. It was only one more thing put in front of him that he would have to move around or climb over or just simply smash through before he could reach his goal.

Everything else – the lectures, the sermons on ninja honor, the tirades about proper behavior – he would just float on through. It was boring, it was tedious, and he didn't like it one bit. He had listened to all of the stuff once, why did he need to do so again? Simply put, he didn't have to, and no one would make him otherwise.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sat up straight suddenly. A small piece of chalk smacked into the table, right where his forehead would have been. Naruto swiftly took into account what had just happened, his face not betraying surprise or any other emotion.

Iruka retracted his hand and recovered the book he had dropped on the table before accurately throwing the chalk at the blonde. He frowned. "Naruto! Stay awake and pay attention! You, more than anyone, should realize just how important this is!"

"Haaiiiii…Iruka-senseiiiii…" Naruto drawled.

Iruka muttered softly to himself before resuming his lecture. He would definitely have to have a good talk with that boy. He knew that Naruto was going through trouble as he had watched the boy the last year at the academy, but that was no excuse for ignoring his duties as a student! If anything, he should pay better attention to try and fix the discrepancies that appeared in his training and learning. Iruka turned back to the chalkboard and began writing on it again with a fresh stick of chalk.

Barely a few minutes had passed when Naruto's head was back on the table again. He was fast asleep soon after.

BKBKBKBKBK

The lecture had passed, and Lee woke Naruto up as Iruka ushered the entire class out of the building. Naruto remembered this part when they reached a small clearing right behind the building, a line of targets off in the near distance. It was basically an evaluation test for the incoming students, to see how good they were initially before the training actually began. Usually each of the candidates' families would teach some things prior to the academy, so it was to be seen just how far they were in comparison with each other. It consisted of ranged weapon accuracy, taijutsu styles, and if there was any aptitude for ninjutsu or genjutsu. Needless to say Naruto less than fondly remembered the disaster that had been his evaluation.

But he had grown over the past year, and he had gotten better in at least his taijutsu and ranged weapon skills. Hopefully he wouldn't make such a big fool out of himself this time.

Naruto watched alongside Lee as the students were called out in alphabetical order, walking up to a line in front of the targeting range. The point of the exercise was to see how well the ninja could strike the eight points of the human body that had the highest chance of causing instant death. The student had eight kunai, one for each point. A measurement of their accuracy and speed would then be taken after that.

Naruto watched as each person went through their test. Each person did about average in both their speed and accuracy percentage – some went at about two kunai at a time or a rapid one at a time, hitting about only one or two targets closely while missing the rest by a fair amount. Naruto's attention was truly caught, though, when a girl did particularly well on the assessment.

The girl had deep chocolate eyes and brown hair that was pulled into two small buns on the back of her head. She was dressed in a simple but still girly outfit of a vest and pants. A capricious smirk was on her face as she gathered four kunai into each of her hands.

Jyuujyuu Tenten was a bit of an oddity amongst most of the other female ninja candidates. While the other girls were both rather giggly and spent more time chatting with each other, Tenten was more sarcastic and resolute, preferring to practice more. She truly wanted to be a strong kunoichi, and she was willing to put all her effort into reaching that goal. It helped that her parents were renowned weapon smiths and that they were just as good in wielding those weapons as creating them.

With a small, deep breath, Tenten closed her eyes and then quickly opened them again, letting go of all the kunai in one smooth movement.

Naruto whistled under his breath as he saw more than half of the small blades strike their targets. The others didn't quite make it, but at least they all landed on the human-shaped target rather than missing it completely like most of the other students had. The girl was good.

He grinned as he saw the girl walk to the back of the group, smiling triumphantly at the surprised and even blatantly shocked expressions of the other students.

Tenten leaned against the tree she had walked under. She was so happy that her skills had improved so much. Showing the others up like that left a good taste in her mouth, and she couldn't wait to show the rest of her skills in the other tests. She did feel a bit anxious though. Ranged weapons were her best skills, but she was still a bit more lacking in the other areas of ninjutsu. Hopefully she could supplement before they became too glaring.

"That was a pretty nifty trick you just did."

Tenten fell out of her thoughts, discovering the young blonde had appeared next to her. She gave a small jump at realizing he had snuck up on her without her even noticing it. She silently cursed. That was yet another small reminder that she had to work harder.

Tenten looked over the boy. She recognized him, both from his "eloquent" entrance to also the few times he had wandered by her parents' shop. She had heard some bad things about the boy, but she couldn't really figure out why. Sure, he did seem a bit wild and barbaric, but some of the people that had shopped at her family's store were even more so. Still, it never hurt to keep on her guard.

Naruto grinned at the girl who was about his height. He watched as her face went through a variety of emotions before settling on wary. Ah, so she knew who he was. No matter, he had to deal with that no matter which person he ever decided to greet. Still, he was far more interested in that little display she had presented rather than worrying about what she thought of him. "Jyuujyuu Tenten, right? That was a pretty cool sight to watch."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so, Uzumaki Naruto?"

He grinned further. "So you know my name as well?"

She smirked. "Kind of hard not to with the way you screamed it this morning."

"Heh, just thought I'd make a big impression on my new classmates."

"Oh, it was definitely big. Though I'm not sure whether or not it was a particularly good or even smart one."

"Yeah, well. I never was one for doing things simple." Tenten nodded courteously, but her eyes neither condemned nor condoned his odd actions and reasoning. He blinked and nodded at the targeting range. "But anyway, that certainly was something very interesting to watch. Never thought I'd see something like it this early on."

Tenten caught the way his eyes were looking at her, dressing her down. She didn't like it. It was like he was looking down on her, mocking her. Tenten had a complex about female ninjas. She believed that they could be as strong and powerful as any male ninja could be. However, it was rather rare for girls to try and become ninjas anyway, and Konoha usually ended up having two ninjas for every kunoichi in its population. As a result, the idea of a well-known kunoichi was still rather low and even mocked from time to time. The amount of boys that she knew that teased both her and other girls about them not deserving to go into battle was a good deal. Even though she probably kick any of their asses any time of the week, it still didn't break their biased and pre-conceived notions.

Tenten would not allow this. She would not allow anyone to look down on her just because she was a girl. She frowned and forced herself not to raise her voice too much. "Why? Is it 'cause I'm a _girl_ that you didn't expect seeing it?"

Naruto blinked and responded almost immediately. "Eh, why would I care if you're a girl or not? Shouldn't it just depend on how skilled you are?"

Tenten could not respond back to this. He had answered without a scrap of hesitation or embarrassment. It was unlike most of the other boys she had met, who had joked and played about a girl never reaching the level that they could.

However, this was a belief that was foreign to Naruto. He didn't really see boys and girls as boy and girls, separate entities. He simply saw them as people that either had the potential to be mighty ninjas or didn't. Gender never entered the equation at all. This was probably influenced by Kyuubi, who saw all beings as inferior to him and never bothered to categorize any of them as there would have been no point to. This then passed down onto Naruto, who only saw things in matters of strength and skill instead of biological and psychological differences. In the end, girls and boys were all humans that were either strong or weak. It was just as simple as that.

Naruto waited for Tenten to reply but was distracted when he heard Lee's name called. Deciding to just leave the girl alone and watch how his new acquaintance did, he waved her goodbye and walked to the front of the crowd.

Tenten watched as he disappeared into the mess of students. Her thoughts circled around what he had said. She shook her head and laughed quietly to herself.

Maybe things weren't so bad after all. If that odd boy was any indication, perhaps there were others that wouldn't find her dream so silly or childish. She leaned her head back against the tree trunk, closing her eyes and letting her thoughts fall into disorder and random ideas.

The branches drifted back and forth, sprinkling shadows on the ground and on the gathering of students. The first day of class had started.

BKBKBKBKBK

The sounds of feet slapping on pavement echoed and repeated itself throughout the air. Small pants and grunts accompanied the sound, creating a tune of sweat, work, and exhaustion. The sun was at its zenith, shining down on the grounds and causing the air to shimmer from the heat.

The boys of the academy were doing a running exercise to test their endurance. Sweat slipped down their faces in mild rivulets as they panted lightly, circling the track time after time again.

Lee narrowed his eyes, his place at the front of the pack. Only a couple weeks had passed by since the beginning of school, and he was already the bottom of the class. All the other students were heads and tails above him. Whether it was the weapon evaluation or the taijutsu fight or any of the other aptitude tests he had gone through, he had met them all in the exact same fashion – with glorious failure.

Lee didn't expect to do too well. He was hopeless with ninjutsu and genjutsu. For some reason he just couldn't get the necessary amount of chakra from out of his body to attempt any of the jutsus. Even if he did, his control was horrible, and every one of his attempts at molding ended up with the chakra simply fading away and leaving him tired after the ordeal. He had always been like that. His family had said something was wrong with his inner chakra coils. Though Lee didn't understand the logistics of the explanation, the basic point of it became clear to him. His body just produced an inferior amount of chakra compared to the normal shinobi, so much that he wouldn't be able to do _any_ jutsus.

But to do as bad as he had on his taijutsu as well? Lee's mind unwillingly moved to the fight he had gone through. Of all the people to be paired up with, it had to be the shining star of the class, the Hyuuga clan member. Neji was a genius – both in what people thought of him and his sheer raw skill. The boy was already considered top of the class in all three forms of ninjutsu. His special bloodline ability, the Byakugan, made him almost invincible without the need to add anything else in. But combined with his family's personal fighting style, the Jyuuken, Neji was a force that could probably go up against genins that had already graduated.

It had taken only two hits. One palm to the shoulder and one to the chest. With the way that the Hyuugas fought, attacking the chakra coils directly, Lee never stood a chance. After those two hits his body erupted in pain as it locked in on itself, Lee dropping to the ground and swiftly falling into unconsciousness. Neji was cold and showed no mercy to his opponents. He hadn't even checked to see if Lee was okay before walking off the sparring field.

But to make matters worse, even Naruto had done better than him. A boy that was a year younger and had already failed the academy once had managed to get an average ranking in the ranged weapon and taijutsu evaluations. Lee knew the boy wasn't intentionally trying to make him feel bad, had probably been training his butt off ever since the first failure. He had worked hard, and his efforts paid off. The only thing he could take consolation in, and Lee felt sick when he realized he actually felt good about this, was that Naruto had done just as bad as him, perhaps even worse, when the ninjutsu and genjutsu portions came up.

Naruto had laughed it off, saying that his control was horrible, but Lee could still see the shame and anger that the blonde felt at doing so poorly. But he kept trying, and Lee could only praise him for that.

Lee had gotten closer to the whiskered boy, not yet becoming friends but close classmates. Naruto would often engage him in conversation, spending most of it making sarcastic remarks and jokes as Lee talked about more general and serious matters. Naruto, while seemingly very open and free, was surprisingly guarded, rarely saying much about his life and habits. Whenever Lee encroached on the matter, he would cleverly evade it and move the conversation to another topic without bringing too much attention to his denial of saying anything.

Naruto had a great drive to him, something that Lee could relate to and admire. The boy rarely thought of what others thought of him, always doing the most he could do to get better and more skilled in his ninja abilities.

_Right!_

Lee ground his teeth together. The only thing he could do was keep working and try to get better. Even if he wasn't a genius like Neji, he could still become stronger if only he put more effort into it!

His thoughts were broken when a boy who had caught up to him and was running at his side gave a sudden laugh. Lee glanced at the unknown student. The boy smiled nastily. He nudged his friend who was running with him and laughed again, staring directly at Lee.

"Idiot! There's no way that you could ever become a ninja!"

Another student who was behind the boy echoed his thoughts. "Like a guy who can't use ninjutsu could ever become a ninja, right?"

Lee tore his eyes from the boy and looked straight ahead, focusing only on the track that was laid out before him. "Yes, I can!" His tone was firm but laced with the tiniest bit of uncertainty.

Another boy picked up on this and decided to take the teasing and bullying a step further. "Actually, the fact you, a guy who can only do below average taijutsu is at the academy, is ridiculous." Lee blinked and his pace became a little slower as his feet suddenly became heavier. He shook his head away and closed his eyes, his lips forming into a disgruntled pout. The boy smiled at this. He chuckled. "Heh, you know what you're called?"

Lee clamped his hands over his ears. He was about to rapidly increase his speed when several cries of surprise followed by the same amount of thumps and shouts of pain came from behind him. He turned around to see the boys that had been bullying, along with a few others that had just been watching, were in a large pile of bodies tangled up on the ground. Lee slowed down when he saw a blonde and brown blur appear in front of the pile.

Naruto grinned cheekily and bent down, staring at the boys who were all on the ground. His eyes flashed. "Whoops, sorry about that. Didn't mean to trip you."

"Bastard!" one of the boys cried. "You did that on purpose!"

"Nope, I'm just real clumsy. I stumbled and guess I knocked into you guys instead. Thanks for taking the fall for me!" His teeth shined and his body was shaking from barely repressed and badly hidden laughter.

The boys disentangled themselves and made as to catch Naruto. The blonde hopped backwards and took off, the ones that had fallen giving quick chase. Lee watched as Naruto zoomed pass him, lowering his body to the ground and falling on all fours. The boy's eyes were glowing with a light that was half satisfied, half feral, and his face was relaxed into a grand grin, laughter pouring from his lips. He quickly outran the boys, climbing up a tree that was near the border of the track like an large squirrel. The boys immediately began to climb it, one at a time as Naruto made faces and obscene gestures at them.

Lee's face changed from a frown into a serene smile. He shook his head once and then proceeded to continue running around the track, sparing a glance as Naruto evaded each of the boys' attempts to attack him, hopping from branch to branch with an agility and quickness that was not familiar to one of his size.

The clouds moved lazily across the sky. Lee looked up at them and decided. He had to work harder.

BKBKBKBKBK

Flesh impacted with tightly bound rope and wood. A thin sheen of sweat glistened, and the smell of it mixed with dirt was heavy and thick in the air. The training grounds was heavily wooded, throwing shade all across the place and making the ambient temperature a bit cooler than the hot day it should have been.

Naruto watched from the branches as Lee practiced hitting the post, alternating between thrusts of his fists and swings of his feet. A tight and grim look of determination was etched into his features, narrowed brows and deep frown amplifying the feeling of rough effort.

The pigtailed boy didn't notice him, too focused on the repeating motion of smashing the post with all the strength in his body. He had been doing this every day of every week since academy had started, trying to make up for his failures and flaws that heavily weighted on his mind. He would become better, even if he broke his bones and tore his muscles in the process. After the hitting practice he would run, and then after that he would jump rope, and then after that he would dodge around trees and other various objects, and then after he would…

The long and rigorous training he had self-taught continuously roved through his mind. It was consuming, obsessive. He would work harder, train more, become a better ninja without having to rely on either ninjutsu or genjutsu. It was his dream, his goal, his deepest desire. And he would fulfill it, no matter what and no matter how hard he pushed himself. His parents worried about his health, trying to get him to slow down after he came back each day battered and bruised and with dirt ground into his body and clothes like it was naturally a part of them. But he ignored them and kept training, for it was all he could think of.

Naruto watched silently, seeing all the silent signs of a being that was quickly burning itself out, only to miraculously burst into life again. It was a wheel of being and non-being, jumping from one state to the other – limitless energy and then eternal rest. Naruto was both surprised and pleased at the boys unnerving diligence to his beliefs. He could relate to that, all too well.

_**I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it for myself, but that brat is even more of a fool than you.**_

_I think it's pretty cool. Even I never worked that hard._

_**And that is why I call him a fool.**_

_Oh, please. As if you never tried your hardest when you first started out._

_**I was always strong, gaki. No one ever bested me no matter what the battle was. I was victorious over it all, and no one could ever try to challenge me without quickly being overcome.**_

_I doubt that very much, Kyuubi. I don't care what you say. To me, I'll always see something like that in you, something small and weak and inexperienced in the world._

_**Than you really are the greatest fool of all. If you keep believing in such a frivolous tale, reality will crush you when you come to realize the full extent of my being.**_

_Yeah, yeah. I'll see it when it happens._

Naruto fell silent, feeling that Kyuubi did the same. These arguments between the two were becoming shorter and less intense. They were slowly, albeit reluctantly, coming to an agreement. It didn't matter what happened, there would never be a true winner in any of their fights, merely an eternity of stalemates. They were coming to understand another more and more, and while that did grind on their individual pride and thoughts, it was clear that it was beneficial to both of them to do so. Naruto needed the knowledge and power that Kyuubi occasionally supplied him, and Kyuubi needed Naruto for his continued existence and awareness of the outside world. They had something to give one another regardless of how they felt on the subject.

Naruto dropped quietly from the tree, making his way to Lee without a sound. When he was close enough, he put his hands behind his back and opened his mouth. "Yo! Lee!"

Lee twirled on his heels in a fluid motion, facing Naruto in a ready stance. When he saw who it was, his body relaxed and his shoulders lost some of the tension they were holding. "Oh, Naruto-san, it is only you."

Naruto grinned and leaned forward, looking up at Lee's sweaty and dirty face. "What's up, gejimayu?"

One of Lee's eyes noticeably twitched at the ridiculous nickname Naruto had bestowed on him. Naruto was clearly making fun of him, but not in the sadistic manner that the other students normally did. It was good-natured and playful, with none of the malice that could have been expected. Lee quickly brought his annoyance back to a preferable level and nodded solemnly. "I am practicing. Surely you can see that."

Naruto slowly looked around the grounds like it was the first time he had seen a place like them. His eyes were inquisitive, questioning, but still with that same mischief that always found its way into his expression. He grinned at the way Lee was frowning at him. "Yup, I see that. I was just wondering why you were working so hard. I thought you were going to break that post in half if you kept hitting it any longer!"

Lee turned and placed a hand on the post. "I must work hard. It is the only thing I can do to improve myself." His thoughts raced back to Neji. No, he was not a genius like that boy. He did not have a natural aptitude for anything and was not graced with the luck of the heavens and whatever deities were out there. He only had his own two hands and what path he could forge with them.

Naruto's grin grew again as Lee's eyes gravitated towards the ground. Ah, so he was like that, was he? He gave a theatric sigh, a loud, throaty one that easily caught Lee's attention. Lee turned his head to see Naruto shaking his, holding both his hands in the air. "That's right, that's right. You're not a genius like Neji, are you?"

Lee turned around completely, watching as Naruto murmured to himself. He wondered why the boy had brought the Hyuuga up. He was thinking about it, but what made Naruto bring up the matter? It wasn't like the boy could read minds, right? Lee threw away those thoughts and began to pound on the post again, his strikes making imprints into the tightly woven fabric. "Yes, that is correct. I am not a genius like Neji-san. I cannot see a person's chakra coils nor can I eject chakra from my tenketsu points. I only have my body and my fists." His tone became lower and more melancholy with each word that spilled from his mouth.

"Nope, nope, nope." Naruto agreed. He turned and began walking around the grounds, revolving around Lee. His eyes were staring up at the sky, his pupils growing smaller as the light poured on them. "You can't do any ninjutsu or genjutsu. You have the chakra output of a two-year-old. Hell, you have trouble doing even the simplest movements of taijutsu. You don't get along well with anyone in class, and everyone's always making fun of you 'cause you do so horribly. The girls think you're weird cause of your eyebrows, and the boys are always looking for new ways to bully you."

Lee's temper and ire grew with each stab Naruto made on his character. Lee knew that he did some things bad, but what the blonde was doing was far and way too excessive beyond any explanation or reason. He was just picking on him. Lee's fists and feet drove deeper into the post, the rope beginning to fray from the ceaseless assault. He had to focus on the post. He had to direct all his frustration at it before he did something he would regret. He would not allow himself to fall into rage.

Naruto opened his mouth and growled maliciously. He turned his face towards Lee. His eyes had grown slitted, flecks of amber and crimson floating through his irises like burning oil on water. His canines seemed impossibly big for his mouth.

"In other words, you're nothing but a grand and utter failure."

Lee's disposition finally snapped. He turned around to throw a punch at the smaller boy, only to find Naruto had already come at him. The blonde ducked under his jab, extended his fingers in a fashion as if to gouge out Lee's eyes. Lee quickly snapped his leg so as to knock the boy's feet from underneath him and also to disrupt his attack.

Naruto disappeared. Lee instantly turned around as he felt a flash of killing intent at his back. He looked up to see Naruto perched on the top of the post, like a gargoyle or other predator waiting to pounce. He was grinning at the black-haired boy, his mouth split wide open. He made no motion as if to attack again, but Lee did not relax, instead shifting a foot back in case he had to retaliate.

Naruto watched all of this and did nothing. He tilted his head to the side and then suddenly burst in laughter. Lee almost faltered at this action, as it was the complete opposite of what Naruto had done before in angering him before attacking. He was both confused and bewildered at what was happening, and his eyes showed it. Naruto wiped away a tear that had formed and softened his smile.

"But then again, I'm just a failure, too."

Lee jumped backwards as Naruto hopped from the post to in front of him. He stood up from his scrunched position and raised his arms above his head, stretching. "I can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu either. I'm only average when it comes to taijutsu or weapon usage. None of the kids like being around me, and I don't like being around them either." He relaxed and leaned his body forward, balancing on his heels.

"But who cares?!" Naruto jumped and pumped a fist up in the air. He smiled when Lee gave him a surprised look. "So what if I can't do the most basic of things? It's not going to make any difference to me. I'm gonna just keep moving ahead, and no one is going to convince me otherwise or stop me from reaching my dream." He sharply pointed a finger at Lee.

"I'm gonna be Hokage one day, no matter what happens in the process."

Naruto leaned even farther forward, falling down onto all fours, assuming that strange style that Lee had seen the boy fight with at his evaluation. He was like a wild animal or a beast, ready to attack at a moment's notice and take down his opponent with the most brutal of measures. Lee's spine tingled slightly at the feelings of vivacity and ferocity that was emanating from the boy in rapid waves.

"So, c'mon, fight me, gejimayu! Show me what a failure can do! If you don't, I'll just kick your ass until you do!"

Lee shuddered. It was not from fear or concern or worry about his well-being. It was excitement and eagerness, a desire to match fists and wits with this strange and scrawny boy. He was a failure, a screw-up, one that was the bottom of his class. No one thought he would amount to anything, and his parents could only hide so much of their own expectations of him. But this boy…this boy…

A fire was lit in Lee's soul. He wanted to fight this boy. He wanted to bring him down time and time again and prove who the better was. He would fight until he cried blood and sweated out his very essence. He wanted to fight until he couldn't move anymore and was left stricken on the ground without a single muscle that wasn't screaming in pain. He wanted to engage in pitched and frenzy battle and come out victorious, ready to take on all challengers.

But mostly he just wanted to fight Naruto and see if the boy's words would resonate with the ones that were buried in his heart. He wanted that most of all.

Lee brought a hand forward, making a beckoning motion with it. He grinned. "Ohhhhh! Very well, Naruto-san! Let us let our spirit fly free and fight until our honors have become satiated!"

Naruto barked in humor and shot forward, gliding across the ground in a way that made it seem like he wasn't even running. Lee smiled and turned, lifting his leg up to bring it down in an axe kick on the boys head.

They met.

It was dark when they finally stopped fighting. Not one left without every inch of their body black and blue.

BKBKBKBKBK

"So, jiisan, what is now? Have you finally decided to give up your position as Hokage and pass it on to me?"

"Hmm…I doubt I'd ever give such a status to such a rough and rude boy such as you."

"Ah, you'll get over that soon enough, jiisan. I'm sure of it."

Naruto and Sarutobi were walking along the less populated and traveled streets of Konoha. It was the time when Sarutobi was checking on the boy again, both to see how he had grown and also to see if his convincing the head of the academy to let the boy in early was paying off. For both of them he was having mixed reactions.

Naruto had grown more unruly yet still kept that clever attitude of his. It was a dangerous mix, a guile mixed with a hair-trigger personality. The boy could think of a thousand different ways to enact his revenge on people, and the occasional pranks the boy pulled were true enough results of that. The jokes never went too far, but it was still bothersome to try and pick up the pieces and convince the ones wronged that exceedingly punishing the boy wouldn't produce wanted outcomes. Punishment only spurred Naruto on to try and resist authority even more than before.

The academy was a little better but not by much. Naruto was only doing average in taijutsu, and as for the others…Sarutobi realized the consequences of shoving such a large storage of chakra like Kyuubi's into such an underdeveloped child like Naruto, but he didn't expect them to reach such epic proportions. To not be able to perform any jutsus at all? What would Minato think if he could see what his only son and last living remains on this world was reduced to? Well, he would probably laugh at the absurdity, but it was certain that he would be disappointed and angry at himself in the end.

Sarutobi stole a glance at the boy. Naruto was staring straight ahead, his hands pillowed behind his head. "So, Naruto, how are things at the academy?"

"Eh?" He looked up then back down and shrugged. "They're okay. The classes are still really boring but there are some cool things anyway. Oh!" He blinked as he remembered something. "There's this funny kid in my class. He's a little like me. I've been sparring with him lately to get better at taijutsu." He fingered his cheek where a dark bruise had healed from earlier. "He hits really hard. Thought my head was gonna come off from that backhand of his."

Sarutobi made a note to investigate further into the matter. It was good that Naruto was becoming closer to someone, but it wouldn't do if that person was severely hurt by the blonde's hidden strengths. He could already imagine the panic that would set in if such news came to bear truth. Suppressing a shudder that threatened to sneak out, Sarutobi tried to start up the conversation again.

"So, I guess you're enjoying yourself then?"

"Hmm…enough, I guess."

"It's important that you enjoy your time there and make better relationships with the people around you."

"Feh, as if their parents would allow them to. I doubt any of them would come near me without a huge stick to make sure I didn't explode right in front of them."

"I'm sure things aren't that bad."

Naruto bit back the snide comment he was about to make. He knew Sarutobi only meant well, and the look in his eyes professed to another train of thought than what he said. The elderly man was smart, he had to admit that. Otherwise he wouldn't be Hokage and be looking after all the people that lived inside the hidden village. Naruto was finding out more and more that perhaps the man knew what he was going through, and was trying his hardest to make it easier for him in his own little ways. Naruto wasn't sure if he liked that idea or didn't, but he knew that as such he wouldn't be left alone to his own devices for too long at times.

Sarutobi looked as the boy's face screwed up, his mouth tightening into a sulk. He had to wonder what the boy was thinking at times. He knew that Naruto hid a lot more than he let on, and had to wonder exactly how much the melding of his and Kyuubi's personalities had taken place. He wondered if he would ever found out the extent.

"Oi, jiisan. Why don't the villagers like me?"

Sarutobi almost stumbled at the blunt and sudden question. How could he answer? Naruto had never asked as to the nature of the villager's hate. He wasn't allowed to find out by law until he either attained the rank of chunin or until he reached the age of sixteen. Before that it was a decree that no one could tell him. It didn't stop them from treating badly him in indirect ways, something that even Sarutobi couldn't stop. How could he control the action of every villager when he could barely contain the wrath of the elders that was directed at the poor boy?

Naurto said nothing as he watched Sarutobi try to compose himself and answer. He sighed and smiled. "Never mind, jiisan. You don't have to tell me. I'm sure it's something that's really important. But don't worry, I'll figure it out somehow. I'm clever like a fox that way." Naruto sped up and waved behind him. "See ya, jiisan!" He quickly disappeared behind the corner of the buildings.

Sarutobi stood there. Had that boy said…? He couldn't possibly have known, could he? There was no way he could discover that unless someone had…He shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself.

"Well, well," he murmured to himself. "Looks like I've been fooled by the great trickster himself." He started up again, looking up at the setting sun in the horizon.

_Minato, is this what you planned all along?_ He laughed again, louder this time. _I swear, even from the grave you continue to poke fun at me._ Sarutobi sighed. _But perhaps it's better this way… _Sarutobi looked where Naruto had run off to.

_Still, when I finally take my last breath, I'm going to smack you one for all the trouble you caused when we meet again. You deserve that at the very least._

The Sandaime Hokage walked down the path, wondering and dreaming about the years to come. He sincerely expected they would be quite interesting.

A/N: Chapter done! Yay, I gave Tenten a last name! Please, _please_ don't kill me on the poorly done pun but I simply couldn't resist! For those who don't get it, jyuu is the Japanese word for ten, so her name roughly equates to Tenten Tenten…even though ten means something completely different (I think it's "heaven"?) Anyway, another funny thing I found is that I have three times as many story alerts than reviews. Should I take this as a compliment or a back-handed one? Meh, ignore my whining. In any case, look forward to the next one. Please review and remember, no flames!

_Next Chapter – Speck in Infinite Existence_


End file.
